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COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



Prohibition Poems 

and Other Verse 




m 



By 

Frank E. Herrick 



Published for the Author 

By 

BRETHREN PUBLISHING HOUSE 
Elgin, Illinois 






Copyright, 1914 
By Frank E. Herrick 






SEP 14 r9l4 

-U380342 



DEDICATION 

I dedicate this book of mine 
To one like a snow-covered pine 

Crowned with light ; 
Yet with heart of Spring below 
Eighty years of drifted snow 

Of ermine white. 

My Mother, to whose life doth cling 
All the gentleness of Spring 

In its prime ; 
And the richness manifold 
Of the hoard of harvest gold 

In Summertime! 

All the flowers in between 

Spring and Autumn's russet sheen 

Are a part 
Of her life, and still abide — 
By the Winter glorified — 

In her heart! 

Eighty years of life have set 
Gems within her coronet 

Of whitened hair; 
Rich beyond the tinseled things 
That the crowned consorts of kings 

Proudly wear! 

All there is within this book 

Of worth or strength or beauty took 

All its grace 
From the imprint of her mind, 
Genteel nature and refined. 

Kindly face! 



PROEM 

I do not seek Parnassian heights 

Nor wish to wear the bays 
Won by Fancy's fruitless flights 

Or sweet and soulless lays! 

But I would dwell among mankind 

And share their joy and woe, 
So close that my short-sword can find 

The red heart of my foe! 

I only wish the gift of song 

As I wish for a brand 
To cleave the brazen casques of wrong 

And free my native land! 

To manumit the sodden slave 

In strong drink's galling chains, 
And stir my comrades to be brave 

On Freedom's battle plains ! 

Swift Pegasus I would but ride 

As warriors ride their steeds 
With spur and saber crimson dyed 

In doing Duty's deeds! 

Not for me to drift and dream 

On peaceful seas apart, 
But the red and pulsing stream 

That courses through the heart; 

Nor sit and sing the senseless songs 

That lull the soul to sleep 
While raging strong drink's thousand wrongs 

Rush on with ruthless sweep ! 



I would only strike the string 

Upon the Harp of Life 
Which to comrade souls shall bring 

New courage for the strife ! 

Other men may sing of Seas 

And Morn and Moon and Stars, 

I only ask from all of these 
The sword and shield of Mars ! 

My militant and martial pen 
Shall never seek its sheath 

Until the close of conflict, when 
We win the victors' wreath! 

Against the curse while life abides 
Let the great charge be led 

With battle-songs, like Ironsides 
With Cromwell at its head! 



CONTENTS 



DEDICATION 3 

PROEM 5 

PROHIBITION 

The American Flag (song), 11 

The Prohibitionist 12 

The Field, the Foe and the Sword 14 

Appeal to the Columbus Convention 15 

The Prohibition Pen 18 

Illinois 20 

The Prohibition Backslider 22 

The Church Somnolent 24 

The New Star in the West 25 

The W. C. T. U. (song) 27 

The Female of the Species 28 

To a New Knight 30 

To Charles H. Poole 31 

We Boys 32 

A Lesson from a Legend 33 

The Fiend of Drink 37 

Seen in Chicago 42 

ALMA MATER 

Wheaton College 55 

The College of Honor and Fame (song) 56 

Alumni Thoughts 57 

Wheaton, the School We Love Dearest (song) 62 

Wheaton College Alumni Song 63 

Ode to Wheaton College 64 

The Graduates' Farewell (song) 67 

The Old Society Hall 68 

The Excelsiors' Farewell (sons:) 70 

Farewell to the Seniors 72 



MISCELLANEOUS, MINOR AND PERSONAL 

Mater Carissima (song) 77 

" De Senectute " 79 

The Angel Israfel 81 

The Dead Year 82 

Voyage of " The Sunbeam " 84 

Straying Thoughts 85 

Memorial Day (song) 87 

Flag of the Eight and Forty Stars 88 

Dewey, the Pride of the Navy (song) 89 

The Boys in the Blue (song) 90 

The Inward Monitor 92 

A Thanksgiving Thought 93 

A Christmas Salute 94 

Despair 94 

The Golden Wedding 95 

Pure Friendship 96 

A Rose for Remembrance 99 

An Appreciation 101 

From a Wayfarer 103 

To a Sick Friend 104 

To a College Friend 105 

An Easter Greeting 106 

A Thanksgiving Day Muse 107 

Memories that Make Us Strong 110 

To a Friend in Sorrow's Shadows 114 



PROHIBITION 



THE AMERICAN FLAG 

(Tune: "America") 
O emblem of the free, 
How beautiful to see 

Thy folds unfurled 
In colors rich and warm, 
Like rainbow's noble form 
Sun-painted on the storm 

Arching the world! 

Thy field of beauty vies 
With midnight's starry skies 

Surpassing grand. 
From sunset's rosy glow 
Each blood-red beam doth throw 
Across thy field of snow 

A crimson band! 

O banner of the brave 

In splendor thou dost wave 

In Freedom's name; 
With deeds for heroes meet 
Thy story is replete. 
And fort and field and fleet 

Attest thy fame! 

Beneath thy lustrous fold 
Of beauties yet untold 

May we abide 
And every ill abate 
That doth reproach a state, 
Or stain a nation, great 

And glorified! 

11 



Before thy stars may Drink 
That leads us to the brink 

Where nations die, 
Fall prostrate in the dark, 
Like Dagon cold and stark 
Before Jehovah's ark 

In years gone by! 



THE PROHIBITIONIST 

A Puritan in things of state 

With heart to dare and soul to wait 

And never-flinching faith that right shall surely win; 
Piercing with his eagle eyes 
Through the veils of compromise 

And the schemes of men and parties for perpetuating 
sin! 

A soldier-sentry on the height 

At the breaking of the light 
Blowing a clear reveille to every sleeping tent, 

Sending forth a ringing note 

From the silver trumpet's throat 
Like a war-cry and a challenge by a fearless foeman 
sent! 

Undismayed by sore defeat; 

Bugle sounding a retreat, 
Truce or armistice or parley never touched his lip, 

But his quenchless spirit rose 

With the number of his foes 
And he clutched his sword and buckler with a stronger 
grip! 

12 



He looked on the nation's vice 

Of selling sanction for a price 
To poison, stain and blast the noblest things of life 

And his soul burst into flame 

At his country's sin and shame 
And uncompromising fury keyed him to a fiercer strife ! 

He beheld the tragic lives 

Of the drunkards in the gyves 
And the shackles that were forged by freemen at the 
polls, 

And the men who heard the cry 

And still scornfully passed by 
With the haughty spirit of their little Levite souls! 

Feeling for his fellows' fate 

Stirred him to a righteous hate, 
Filled his breast with sorrow and his eyes with tears. 

As the Master's eyes were wet 

When he saw from Olivet 
The city soon to meet his love with mockery and jeers ! 

Heart of Luther, strong and brave, 

Lovejoy's pity for the slave, 
Soul and sword of Cromwell fighting with his foes, 

Strength be to your shining steel, 

Fire to your flaming zeal, 
Victory to your valor and your rain of righteous blows ! 
June 12, 1914. 



13 



THE FIELD, THE FOE AND THE SWORD 
The battle-field is at the polls, 

And only there 
The drum of real conflict rolls 

And trumpets blare ; 
There only foes meet foes and feel 
The shock of shield and stroke of steel! 

The only menace to the foe 

Is there displayed ; 

All else is vain and mimic show 

And dress parade. 

The curse and prayer and bitter tear 

They do not notice, feel or fear! 

Behind the frowning battlement 

The law has built. 

Deep-moated by the State's consent 
To share their guilt, 

The liquor legions take no note 

Of aught, except the snow-white vote ! 

But they behold with startled eyes 
And bated breath 

The ballot in whose circle lies 

The seal of death ; 

The message evil Eglon heard 

Is their doom but a day deferred. 

Yes, they see — and are afraid 

With mortal dread — 

In ballot-panoply arrayed 

And mighty tread 

The soldiers stern and strong in will 

Who come to conquer, smite and kill. 

14 



O comrades of the snow-white plume, 
The ballot brand 

Shall be the thunderbolt of doom 

Within your hand 

To blast the monster of our day 

And end his soul-appalling sway. 

APPEAL TO THE COLUMBUS CONVENTION 
O men from every corner drawn 
To think upon a people's ills, 
The trembling twilight tips the hills 
A herald of the coming Dawn! 

Come and be separate and apart 

Nor joined to the consenting throngs — 
The sponsors for the mighty wrongs 

When ballots voice a nation's heart! 

Renounce the parties and the creeds 
That are at peace with all this woe, 
That do not wish its overthrow 

And back desire by their deeds ! 

Put all your idols to the sword, 

Break down the altars of the past 
And in repentant fires cast 

The images you have adored! 

Wipe off the base, inglorious dust 

From sycophant and cringing knee 
And be men worthy to be free 

Or fit to die, if die you must ! 

How came this monster in the land 
And why do men with open eyes 
Look on the evil compromise 

And sanction all that sin has planned? 

15 



Who placed this blight upon the brain, 
This canker in a nation's breast, 
And for the gold that he possessed 

Permitted him to stay and reign? 

Who framed the system of consent, 

Who taught the profit-sharing creeds 
And girt with law the vicious deeds 

That leveled Virtue's battlement? 

Who is the graven god that men 

Clad in the livery of light 

Offer the sacrifice of right 
And homage of the tongue and pen? 

The license party god with gold 
And power and a great array 
Has led a weakling host astray 

And cursed the land with plagues untold ! 

His devotees have all defiled 

Themselves with dark and inky stains 
And spread a net of iron chains 

To snare and slay the Future's child! 

From his vile worship has sprung up 
Upon the homestead of the free 
The poison-bearing Upas tree 

Whose distillation is the cup! 

They burned incense upon the hills 
And builded altars in the groves 
And for the fishes and the loaves 

Made profit from the people's ills! 

They came upon a virgin soil. 

By law and Nature pure and free, 

16 



And for a paltry license fee 
They sold concessions to despoil! 

They smote in twain the sacred shield — 
The aegis of the Common Law — 
And with exulting hearts they saw 

It trampled on the battle-field ! 

In vain you talk of right and truth, 

And you become a theme for scorn, 
When they of whom this woe was born 

Receive your sanction in the booth! 

The gain of tainted gold is loss, 
As the liquors Christians send 
To darkened heathen lands but tend 

To make a mockery of the Cross! 

The parties that with purpled hands 
Feed full the winepress of our woe 
Nor seek to check its overflow 

Are only liquor's vassal bands! 

Your fellowship with them forsake 

Whose creed in state craft is to give 
Consent and countenance to live 

Of all the havoc Drink can make! 

Four-square against them meet the hordes 
That planted in the public health 
This cancer of the Commonwealth, 

And show the temper of your swords! 
November 13, 1913. 



17 



THE PROHIBITION PEN 

My dearest friends, thanks for the pen, 
The weapon reckoned among men 

More mighty than the sword, 
Yet whose peaceful works are crowned 
With bays of victory more renowned 

Than war's red fields afford! 

You have placed within my hand 
A weapon greater than the brand 

Of imperial Charlemagne, 
And an instrument of fear 
More dreaded than the iron spear 

Upon the battle plain ! 

Indeed, a goodly pen is more 
Than sword and buckler in this war 

Where you have bravely led; 
A conflict that shall ne'er produce 
An armistice or flag of truce 

'Till every foe hath fled! 

Now what more fitting can I do 
Than dedicate myself anew 

And my new golden pen 
To the dear cause wherein we all 
Are struggling to disenthrall 

Our drink bound fellow men? 

May its ceaseless fountain flow 
Against this soul-appalling woe 

That shrouds the sunny earth, 
That ever tolls its dismal knells 
And muffles all the silver bells 

Of childhood's joy and mirth ! 

18 



May I keep this good pen bright 
By knightly deeds until the light 

Goes down upon the strife, 
With strokes " to right the wrong " allied 
To good Excalibar, the pride 

Of Arthur's blameless life! 

O comrades true, who bravely stand 
To cleanse and purge our goodly land 

Of all its deadly ills. 
May you wear the victor's crown 
Before your mortal suns go down 

Behind the twilight hills ! 

But if you never see that day 
Yet your free, fair children may 

And glory in the part 
That you bore in the ruthless fight 
Through the long and starless night 

With leal and loyal heart! 

Oh, may the victory be near 
And soon the star of peace appear 

To greet your waiting eyes, 
As shepherds saw in years afar 
The peace proclaiming herald star 

In soft Judean skies! 

(On receipt of a fountain pen as a Christmas gift from 
Mr. and Mrs. Alonzo E. Wilson.) 



19 



ILLINOIS 

O Commonwealth of mighty men, 
State of Emancipation's pen 

And lustrous stars untold 
As when the banner of the night 
Gemmed with constellations bright 

Unfurls its starry fold! 

State within whose confines wide 
Young, heroic Lovejoy died 

A martyr for the slave, 
And o'er whose prairies where he slept 
A hundred shouting legions swept 

To glory's gory grave! 

State of the silent soldier who 
Led the heroic hosts of blue 

Through flame and battle scars 
To keep our seamless flag unrent, 
And unbroken in the firmament 

The cluster of its stars! 

Thine is a heritage more great 
And precious than the proud estate 

Of all the kings of time; 
Thy legacy a glorious part 
Of true nobility of heart 

And fortitude sublime! 

O Illinois, the richest gem 
In fair Columbia's diadem 

Of stars serene and grand, 
With pride and swelling hearts we see 
The bounties lavished upon thee 

From Nature's open hand! 

20 



Thine opulent and lordly fields 
Whose never-failing harvest yields 

Its wealth of golden corn, 
And mines of treasure, deep and dim, 
That overflows the spreading brim 

Of Plenty's copious horn ! 

All blessings, mighty State, are thine 
Abundant as the stars that shine 

In midnight's gorgeous dome; 
Wealth and noble sons whose bays 
Are greener than the palmy days 

Of old imperial Rome! 

But all of these shall naught avail. 
My brothers, if we basely fail 

To bravely do our parts. 
For there are evils now as great 
And perilous to this proud State 

As fired our fathers' hearts ! 

Oh, there are enemies within — 
Strong, defiant, law-girt sin 

And open, sanctioned crime. 
And decadent moralists who wink 
At the red traffic in strong drink — 

The tragedy of our time! 

For a morsel of vile gold 

Have our sunken statesmen sold 

The dearest things of earth. 
Sold and bartered for a fee 
Hope of youth, and childhood's glee 

And overflowing mirth! 

With brazen insolence they plead. 
Rich sovereign State, thy crying need 

21 



Of the price of blood, 
To build thy highways and sustain 
The cities of thy fertile plain 

By murder's crimson flood! 

O trumpet of the Past, impart 
Once more that spirit to the heart 

Of every loyal son 
That made our fathers' hearts of yore 
Leap up to battle at the roar 

Of Sumter's opening gun! 

Dear Illinois, in this fierce strife 
Thy fame, thy honor and thy life 

Are in the balance cast, 
And valiant sons of thine today 
Must do as mighty deeds as they 

Who made thy glorious past! 

That th' Liberator's home shall see 
All of its drink-bound bondmen free 

From all the chains they wear, 
By thy soldiers' scattered shrines 
'Neath the palmettoes and the pines. 

Our solemn vows we swear! 
January 20, 1913. 



THE PROHIBITION BACKSLIDER 
O faltering and unstable man, 

Weak and fearful, lacking zeal, 
Dim-visioned, void of power to scan 

The depths dividing woe and weal. 

Too weary to abide the dawn. 
And tempted by the lust to win; 

22 



An heir of light who put in pawn 
His birthright for the spoils of sin! 

Once in his heart the fire burned 
Bright as the royal orb of day, 

But now the fervent heat has turned 
From glowing red to ashen gray! 

Once a proud soldier in the host 
That stands for the eternal right, 

He fled despairing from his post 
Amid the seeming hopeless fight! 

He who once stood on our side 

First faltered, fled, then joined the foe 

And all he loved before, denied. 

And strongly wrought to work us woe ! 

Before him right and wrong arose 

And claimed liege service of his might; 

He saw and knew, but basely chose 
The darkness rather than the light ! 

The light within him became dark ; 

So deep that darkness and so great 
That death and doom can only mark 

The tincture of its inky state! 

Deserter in the hour of need, 
Of base born appetite that seeks 

Again in captive fields to feed. 

Like Israel longing for the leeks! 

Sit not in judgment harsh and grim 
Nor hold him by an iron rule, 

In charity according him 

The pity portioned to the fool! 

April 18, 1912. 

23 



THE CHURCH SOMNOLENT 

The Christ-commissioned Church asleep 
Sent to subdue a sinful world, 

While sins to make the angels weep 

Parade with all their flags unfurled! 

The Church that warred against the Moor 
And drove the Saracen and Turk, 

Fear-palsied pauses weak and poor 
Before the great unfinished work! 

O Church we know your high-blown pride 

And list your self-crowned moral worth, 
By acts and things undone belied 

" By day and night throughout the earth. 

The mighty sword within your hand 
Is coated with inglorious rust, 

A jest and byword in the land, 

A mockery that none will trust! 

The great red Dragon, surnamed Drink, 
Before your eyes has grown to might 

And 'neath his frown you quake and shrink 
Like cravens fearful of a fight ! 

You have the power in your arm, 

His life and death is in your hands ; 

Yet in your reach, secure from harm. 
The rampant demon safely stands! 

You give consent to death for gold 
And sell your sanction for a fee. 

And shield him by the starry fold 

Of our sweet emblem of the free! 

24 



Apologist for evil days, 

Of all your ancient virtues shorn, 
Contemptible in the public gaze 

And pilloried in the stocks of scorn ! 



THE NEW STAR IN THE WEST 
A new star shines in the golden West 

Above the portals of the ebbing day, 
Over a happy land and blest 

Where kings and queens hold equal sway. 

A child of valor and the love 

Of California's golden slope — 
That splendid star now shines above 

The cradle of a new-born hope. 

It is the morning star that gleams 

As herald of the joyous day 
That slaves have seen alone in dreams 

Since Wrong has held its iron sway. 

It shines, the hope of half the race — 

The wise, the good, the fair — 
Bright in its fixed abiding place, 

Agleam in Freedom's taintless air. 

Yes, dawn breaks at the gates of night 
And toward the East the shadows fall 

Like sharp, accusing fingers that indict 
The sluggard conscience of us all. 

Half fettered 'neath our Eastern dome, 
Full freedom in the boundless West, 

Night where the sunrise has its home, 
Day where the great orb sinks to rest. 

25 



Full panoplied to guard her own, 

There queen with king stands as a peer, 

Armed to defend the common throne — 
A right divine denied her here. 

And age-long ill that never dies 
While man, and man alone, is lord 

Beholds with fear and startled eyes 
The new foe and the bright new sword. 

O women worthy of the trust 
To guard the Occidental land, 

Keep bright by parry and by thrust 
The new sword given to your hand ! 

Oh, throw the useless scabbard down, 
And never sheathe the shining steel 

While evil thrives beneath the crown 
Of our imperial Commonweal! 

An evil giant, blind with hate 

And surnamed Drink — of demon breed — 
Has seized the pillars of our State 

And shakes each like a feeble reed. 

And coward souls and shallow minds 
Accord him place and honor too. 

Because with his great strength he grinds 
And pays the tithes of mint and rue. 

Against this author of all ill 

The main assault and siege must be, 

And the one weapon that will kill 

Is yours — the vote that makes you free ! 
(Oft the Woman's Suffrage victory in California.) 



26 



Song 

THE W. C. T. U. 

(Tune: "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean") 

O host of our brave home defenders ! 

O white-robed reformers so true, 
Like the rainbow's seven-hued splendors. 

The promise of the world is in you. 
O brave hearts who feared not nor fainted 

A triumphal arch lifts its form 
On the world's darkest cloud brightly painted, 

Across the black brow of the storm. 

Across the black brow of the storm, 

Across the black brow of the storm, 
On the world's darkest cloud brightly painted. 

Across the black brow of the storm! 

The armies of midnight and morning 
Are met on the fierce fields of war. 

And the bugles have blown their wild warning ; 
Then brave band be true to the core ! 

The darkness and light are contending 
For the life and the death of the world. 

But in scorn of all peril impending, 
Keep your flag ever proudly unfurled, 
Keep your flag ever proudly unfurled, 
Keep your flag ever proudly unfurled, 

But in scorn of all peril impending. 
Keep your flag ever proudly unfurled! 

O men, 'rouse and rise from your sleeping! 

And join this great moral crusade, 
The poor world is weary with weeping 

O'er the ruin and wreck rum has made. 



n 



For the homes and the hearts sad and broken, 
And the hopes turned to ashes and dust, 

Let the death-sentence swiftly be spoken, 
And the judgment will be true and just. 
And the judgment will be true and just, 
And the judgment will be true and just, 

Let the death-sentence swiftly be spoken. 
And the judgment will be true and just ! 

And the hope of the home and the nation 
Through trials and triumphs shall stand, 

And peal forth their proud proclamation. 
To the rum-shackled slaves of the land! 

Then will haloes of glory surround them 
Like the saints in the pictures we see. 

When the laurels of victory have crowned them, 
And the bondmen of drink shall be free, 
And the bondmen of drink shall be free. 
And the bondmen of drink shall be free. 

When the laurels of victory have crowned them. 
And the bondmen of drink shall be free ! 



"THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES" 

When you see the bums and brewers and the riffraff of 

the land 
Out opposing votes for women with a zeal to beat the 

band 
You can mark it down as certain as the signs that 

never fail 
That the female of the species is more deadly than the 

male! 

When the crooked politician begins to froth and foam 
And proclaim that woman's province is the precinct of 
the home 

28 



'Tis a sign he knows destruction is camping on his 

trail 
And that the female of the species is more deadly than 

the male ! 

When the hypocrite sky pilot crawls behind Apostle 

Paul 
And says women should keep silence he has less of 

sense than gall 
For without the goodly women surely Satan would 

prevail, 
But the female of the species is more deadly than the 

male! 

When the liquor license parties very pointedly and 

clear 
Tell the great white ribbon army to be seated in the 

rear 
It is simple as a primer to a graduate of Yale 
That the female of the species is more deadly than the 

male! 

When the grafting legislator, who buys his way with 

booze 
Votes to keep from womankind her just and legal dues 
He has an eye for business — that of keeping out of 

jail— 
For the female of the species is more deadly than the 

male! 

Be men and give her credit due and power to her arm, 
And only place within her reach the foe that worketh 

harm 
Then shall the wicked flee away like chaff before the 

gale 
For the female of the species is more deadly than the 

male! 

January 1, 1912. 

29 



TO A NEW KNIGHT 

This is your year of Jubilee 

When to your lawful rights restored 

You share the blessings of the free — 
The purple and the sovereign sword ! 

I see in you the splendid zeal 

Of new knight in his maiden mail, 

With golden spurs and bright, new steel 
And brave heart that shall never quail ! 

But you must wage a wiser fight, 
Not clad in mail with iron mace — 

For in all the livery of light 

The foemen stand whom you must face ! 

Not in the thick-necked thug (indeed, 

The least of all the foe is he) 
The danger lies, nor in the breed 

That pours the poison for a fee. 

But in those men of high estate 

Whose consciences are dead and sere, 

And those poor souls who also hate 
But hate him with a coward's fear. 

And those loud warriors who, forsooth, 
Curse him until their words are spent — 

Then in the secret, silent booth 

Write out their sanction and consent! 

You know his wiles as well as I 

O youthful knight, both brave and wise, 

And his chief snare and gilded lie — 
The smooth, seductive compromise! 

30 



Although we fight on different fields 
And in separate armies far apart 

We bear the selfsame make of shields 
And the common cause upon the heart ! 

Enlisted till the war shall end — 

No drums, no plumes, no prancing steeds- 
I hope to share with you, brave friend, 

The comradeship of knightly deeds! 

And woe betide the robber chief 
That holds as captive this fair land 

And levies tribute from its grief 
To keep him and his vassal band! 



TO HON. CHARLES H. POOLE 

On his departure for New Zealand. 
(After Byron's " Napoleon's Farewell ") 

Farewell to the friend who today is returning 

To the home that lies under the bright Southern 
Cross 
Where skies with strange constellations are burning 

Unmoved by our sorrow, untouched by our loss. 
A comrade and counsellor wise and true-hearted 

In the prime of his prowess is leaving our shore — 
Still a comrade-in-arms, though by seas we are parted 

For great is this conflict and world-wide this war. 

Farewell to thee, friend; to this Drink-ravaged nation 
Thou camest aflame, like the dawn in the East, 

Illuming the way towards the great consummation 
When its wounds have been healed and its sorrows 
have ceased; 

31 



To the sleeping a herald with clear trumpet pealing, 
A panoplied Prince in the front of the fray, 

A white-plumed knight in the host that is sealing 
The doom of the scourge of the nations today. 

Farewell, soldier true; when the victory breaking 

Like the Sun in his armor routing the Night 
Brings the long jubilee to the hearts that are aching 

In the thraldom of Drink with its bane and its blight 
And the night of defeat shall give way to the morning 

And the grand review close the wearisome march, 
Then again we shall see thee, bright-laurelled, adorn- 
ing 

And leading a host 'neath the triumphal arch! 

Farewell to thee, friend ; with us thou art leaving 

Sweet memories fair as the rose-spangled mead 
That shall blossom again in the mystical weaving 

Of the looms of the years yet to come, as they speed. 
May the warfare with Drink and its soul-stirring 
story 

And the common cause keep us as one in the fight. 
Though we differ in deeds as differ in glory 

The gems in the star-sown fields of the Night! 
October 10. 1913. 



WE BOYS 

We are the boys who will be men 
Not many years from now, and then 

If any wrong is living yet — 

Like whiskey, beer or cigarette — 

We'll join the army of the " drys " 
And fight that wrong until it dies! 

32 



We are temperance laddies now 

And we promise, pledge and vow 
With our hands upon our hearts 

That never until life departs 
Shall one of us e'er do so much 

As ever even lightly touch 
Tobacco with our finger tips, 

Or put the poison to our lips ! 

We will be the kind of boys 

Who are the jewels and the joys 

Of teachers and our mothers, too. 
In all we try and say and do ; 

And we will fight hardest of all 

Tobacco and King Alcohol! 

December 5, 1913. 

(Written for small boys' Sunday School class of Gary 
Memorial Church, Wheaton, Illinois.) 

A LESSON FROM A LEGEND 
As the little infant Hercules one quiet night lay sleep- 
ing 
In the hollow concave of his father's brazen shield, 
There came two huge and slimy, sinuous serpents 

creeping — 
The most subtle creatures of the beasts of all the field. 

Into the guarded chamber where the little giant sleeper 
Lay in his cradle confines, v/rapped in peaceful dreams, 
They glided soft and swiftly, peering deep and deeper 
With eyes that glowed and glittered with infernal 
gleams. 

In vain had the midnight drawn close its inky cur- 
tain. 
And spread its sable counterpane upon his cozy bed, 

33 



But in his brazen crib where safety seemed most cer- 
tain, 
Within a shield, unshielded, lay his defenceless head. 

With their swelling crests ablaze, uplifted and defiant, 
And fangs dripping poison like an envenomed dart, 
They leered and looked upon the little sleeping giant. 
Then arched their sinewy necks to strike him through 
the heart. 

But just then little Hercules awoke from his deep 

dreaming. 
And saw the hissing monsters' horrid, hell-like leer. 
Their cloven tongues swift-darting and fiery eyeballs 

gleaming 
And frightful fangs directed to pierce him like a spear. 

Then quickly as the shimmering, vivid lightning leap- 
ing 

Like a sword drawn swiftly from the ebon sheath of 
night. 

Just as the deadly blows were ruthlessly down sweep- 
ing 

He caught the bolts descending midway in their flight. 

Around the throat he seized each hideous monster 

tightly 
And choked and strangled one to death with either 

hand. 
And the fierce and fiendish eyes which once had burned 

so brightly 
Grew lusterless and dark as death, or midnight in the 

land. 

Of all his combats with the giants and all his mighty 

labors 
Until the day he perished wrapped in his burning 

shroud, 

34 



Above the bloody triumphs of war-clubs and of sabers, 
Of the slaughter of the serpents he was ever the most 
proud. 

There are ten million cradles in this fair land of oars 
Where innocence and infancy are so serenely sleeping ; 
But here as in the Paradise of Eden's fairest flowers 
The subtle, wily tempters come ever closer creeping. 

There is no love-charmed chamber which they cannot 

enter, 
And no cradle-shield however embossed and girt with 

love. 
Though bound with brazen bands that run from side 

to center 
And inlaid with gold and gems bright as the stars 

above. 

In every face they breathe their pestilential vapors, 
And strangle every virtue within their cruel coils. 
And on every fireside altar Love's ever-burning tapers 
Have seen some fearful sacrifice of their most ruthless 
spoils. 

In their stings are potent poisons ever stronger grow- 
ing, 

And corrosive compounds of more consuming fire 

Than all the cups with hellebore and hemlock over- 
flowing, 

Or " juice of cursed hebenon " that slew Hamlet's 
noble sire. 

Not alone through hut and hovel, but all ranks and 

races, 
Black as Stygian slime, their poison pathway runs, 
As when in the Trojan temple, even in the holy places. 
The mighty serpents slew the priest and all his sons. 

35 



Fast and fierce, with flaunting flags the demon host 

advances, 
And we are the warrior-warders who must watch and 

guard the wall, 
We must shoot our swiftest arrows, and throw our 

sharpest lances, 
Or the holiest city e'er besieged — the holy home — will 

fall. 

And " woe to him by whom it cometh," let the warn- 
ing words be spoken. 

Know the tick of every second is the death-dirge of a 
soul. 

And they who sleep will lose the portion of the prom- 
ise never broken. 

As from his bosom, while he slept, poor Christian lost 
his roll. 

Now the need is men of valor who will not retreat or 

cower. 
And those in high and holy places who their prowess 

will employ 
In a temper of true chivalry as " when knighthood was 

in flower," 
Not sit like senile Priam helpless on the walls of Troy. 

The fierce and lordly liquor serpents, above these 
cradles bending. 

Must be straightway seized and strangled or every- 
thing is lost ! 

With our own hands we must slay them, v^e must do 
our own defending. 

With a spirit, faith and fortitude, that nothing can 
exhaust ! 

36 



Then let the sword be never sheathed, but keep it red 

and reeking; 
With the fiery blood of dragons let it stream and drip, 
Till the dawning of that blessed day which all good 

men are seeking, 
When the poison cup no more shall touch or tempt a 

human lip! 

(Read before the convention of the Illinois Inter-Col- 
legiate Prohibition Association, in Wheaton College Chapel, 
May 30, 1901.) 



THE FIEND OF DRINK 

We are now out in the world 
Where the banners are unfurled 

Of all the pirate crafts of crime and awful sin 
With the crossbones and the skulls 
Blazoned on their hideous hulls 

And the death's head at the mainmast with its grew- 
some grin. 

And these social buccaneers 
Are cruel and immune to tears 

As ever fierce free-booters out on the Spanish Main, 
And they claim the ghastly tolls 
Of blighted, seared and ruined souls 

And bodies scarred and branded with the mark of 
Cain. 

And the craven world stands by 

Like poor fools afraid to die 
And pays inglorious tribute to these red-handed men ; 

With a base terror overcome 

And with a moral palsy dumb 
They stand inert beholders mute in tongue and pen. 

n 



As the cruel ocean surge 
Sings its sad and doleful dirge 

Of the tragedies and wrecks out on the raging seas 
So the earth sends up its cries 
Like the ceaseless clouds that rise 

From the awful pit to which Apollyon holds the keys. 

And the direst demon here 

With the most malicious leer 
Is the fiery fiend of Drink with legions in his train ; 

He the king of human woes 

And the chief of all of those 
That rallied with the Dragon on Armageddon's plain. 

All the other demons grim 

Are but liegemen unto him 
And his loyal vassal serfs are Murder, Lust and Lies ; 

He is high-priest and the chief 

Of the yeggmen and the thief 
And the libertines and reprobates and all the evil eyes. 

He is the life-blood of the bawd 
And the perjurer and the fraud 

And the gamblers and plug-uglies and all their kith 
and kin ; 
He is Anarchy's right hand 
And hurls the bomb and brand, 

And the incentive and promoter of every form of sin. 

Like the fabled Gorgon-stare 
And Medusa's snaky hair 
He turns the bosom into flint and hearts to hardest 
stones. 
And his highest fiendish joy 
Is to blight some budding boy — 
Then break his mother's heart and mock her piteous 
moans. 

38 



Fraternal strife is his content 
And his choice music a lament 

And a villain-visaged mortal is his finished man ; 
He holds a broken heart a charm 
And peace a trumpet of alarm — 

He puts a premium upon ill and the good things under 
ban. 

And in all his vile regime 

There is not a single gleam 
In excuse or palliation to redeem his evil sway, 

And the strangest, saddest thing 

With most humiliating sting 
Is that men should tolerate him in their purlieus for 
a day. 

But degenerates in brain 
With the morally insane 
Throw around this brutal demon the safeguards of 
the law ; 
And the sacred shield that should 
Safely keep the weak and good 
Only guards this baneful beast while he fills his hun- 
gry maw. 

But of moral beings frail 
They are the lowest in the scale 

Of invertebrates and mollusks and sponge and jelly- 
fish, 
Who with coward souls and cold 
Take his vile and tainted gold 

And pander to his power and court his evil wish. 

With the blood that he has shed 
All their hands are reeking red 

39 



As partners and accessories with knowledge and con- 
sent, 
For the many and the strong 
Cannot make a right of wrong 
Though sanctioned by the multitude and Christian 
President. 

With this monster we abhor 
We must wage relentless war 
And with courage, craft and cunning meet his wiles 
and snares 
And his fierceness all in one 
Of Vandal, Gaul and Goth and Hun 
And Tartars, Turks and Saracens and hungry wolves 
and bears. 

Oh, but what can cleanse and purge 

This world from the curse and scourge? 
Will it ever be till earth shall melt with fervent heat? 

When the firmament shall roll 

All together like a scroll 
And the cycle of the Universe at last shall be com- 
plete? 

When amid the encircling gloom 
Earth shall hear the blast of doom 
And die beneath the dire eclipse and blood-bedarkened 
suns 
While our mighty system reels 
With the shock and deafening peals 
And the awful roar and thunder of great Jehovah's 
guns! 

But we have a crescent hope, 
Still victoriously to cope 
With the fierce invader and break his battle-lines 

40 



And make this ravaged land once more 
As pure as Eden was of yore 
Ere the subtle serpent entered with his fell designs. 

We must, till his doom is sealed 

And his henchmen fly the field 
Use every craft and strategy and art of cruel war ; 

Attack by mines and ambuscade, 

Front and rear and enfilade, 
Till blank annihilation ends his reign for evermore. 

And we among the faithful few 
Must be doubly brave and true 

To offset the v.'eak allegiance of half-hearted men 
Who have no anchor to their hope 
And cannot see beyond the scope 

Of the little field of vision of their mortal ken. 

But we know we cannot fail, 

For right is might and shall prevail, 
And just a passing cloud is a bitter, losing fight, 

But the victory shall be won 

Completely as the rising sun 
Routs with his shining spears the sable hosts of night. 

Now with our spirits unsubdued 
And with our fealty renewed 
Let us wear the amaranth of hope upon our hearts. 
Until the Prohibition cause 
With its code of righteous laws 
Shall extend its jurisdiction to the earth's remotest 
parts ! 
November 25, 1909. 



41 



AS SEEN IN CHICAGO 

Should you ask me, whence these stories? 

Whence these tales so dark and tragic, 

Whence these tales of tears and trouble, 

Tales of villains and their victims. 

All these songs of sin and sorrow. 

All these undertones of sadness? 

Should you ask me I should tell you 

Would reply to you as follows: 

They are tales I see imprinted 

In the haggard face of hunger; 

They are tales I hear repeated 

By the pallid lips of famine. 

They are tales that I find written 

In the withered hand of beggars. 

They are dirges that are chanted 

At the death of soul and body 

In the dark and dreadful drama 

Of the life of rum-cursed mortals. 

They are sounds that rise forever 

To the ears of men and angels 

From the heart of this great city 

Like the smoke that rises ever 

From the pit that has no bottom. 

I repeat them as I heard them 

And I paint their form and features 

Standing out like sculptured figures 

And in bold relief depicted 

As I see them from Mount Ego, 

As a thousand times I saw them 

As a thousand times I heard them. 

Weird and wild and sad and dismal, 

You have seen them, heard them, felt them, 

42 



And you know well what I tell you. 

By the beautiful blue waters 
Of a Great Lake in the Northland 
Stands the city of Chicago, 
Stands the greatest of all cities, 
Like a mighty giant Cyclops 
Standing by his forge and stithy 
Tossing to the sky above him 
From his forge and furnace chimneys 
Black and white plumes to the heavens, 
While his hammers ring and thunder 
As in the days of gods and giants 
When the mighty blacksmith Vulcan 
Forged for Mars his mighty armor; 
Blessed above all other cities, 
Also cursed with plagues the blackest. 
But the blackest of all curses 
And the source and spring and fountain 
And the cause of all the others 
Is the great saloon, the demon. 
King and first of all offenders. 
He it is who causes murder. 
Causes anarchy and murder; 
He it is who fills the prisons. 
He it is who kills all virtue. 
By his Gorgon-stare the bosom 
Into stone is straight transmuted. 
All that feels his touch is tainted ; 
By his right hand homes are ruined, 
By his scepter hearts are broken, 
By his brutal feet the helpless 
Are crushed and trampled without mercy. 
By his presence hopes are blighted 
And before his index finger 

43 



All that's innocent and gentle 
All that's good and true and pure 
Flee away and shrink and shrivel 
Fall and fade and die and wither 
Like the withered leaves of winter 
When the icy winds assail them. 

Of such deeds he is the author 
That methinks they would have surely 
Made the spot of shame grow crimson 
In the cheek and brazen forehead 
Of Babylon, the great and wicked 
Mother of Abomination; 
Would have shocked the slums of Sodom, 
Shocked those submerged, fire-deluged, 
Flame-enshrouded, brimstone-buried 
Cities of the plain that perished. 

From his confines come the causes 
Of all woe and wreck and ruin 
As the winds came from the caverns 
Where iEolus held in fetters 
All the wrathful winds of heaven. 

As before the fearful onslaughts 
Of the thunder-throated tempest 
When both men and mountains tremble, 
Fairest fields and grandest forests. 
Fragile flowers, stately cedars. 
Giant oaks and pliant willows; 
Shudder, quake and quail and quiver, 
Bow and bend and break and perish. 
And behind it on its war-trail 
Follows death and desolation 
Blacker even than the cloud-rack 
Which went on before the tempest; 
So before the blasting, blighting, 

44 



Furious deadly storms that issue 

From the rum-fiends' gilded caverns 

(The ante-chambers of perdition 

By the law engirt and guarded) 

Come all baneful, direful, fatal 

Plagues and crimes and sins and curses 

Charged with death as clouds with lightning, 

Charged with poisonous exhalations 

Like the breathing of a serpent; 

With the poison breath of breweries 

With the latent seeds of sickness 

With the fetid fumes of fever 

With the nauseating vapors 

Of both malt and malted liquors, 

With all miasmatic odors 

From the fens of fermentation 

From the piles of putrid pomace 

From distilleries and gin mills 

From the wine-press and the bar-room. 

Puffing forth their vile contagions 

In the nostrils of creation. 

Breath of poisonous decoctions 

Breath of leperous distillment 

Breath of reason-wrecking spirits 

Deadly as the swift death-angel 

Passing, breathed into the faces 

Of the sleeping host that perished 

With Sennacherib's great army. 

And with all of these moreover 
Are the seven plagues commingled 
From the seven vials the angels 
Poured upon the earth and waters. 
Then upon the visitation 
Of this tempest of all terrors 

45 



Homes and hopes collapse and crumble, 

Souls are sunk as ships are sunken 

Going down in seas of sorrow. 

Every virtue is uprooted 

And left lying limp and lifeless ; 

Youth and age and grace and genius 

Are in the vortex of the whirlwind 

Dragged to death, disgrace, dishonor; 

And the glorious goddess Reason 

Driven from her throne resplendent. 

Forced to flight and abdication, 

Leaves her former fair dominions 

In incoherent interregnum 

And her sacred throne is usurped 

By the insane kings of darkness 

And the drunken, brutish forces 

Of the regicides of reason. 

Of the Vandals of all virtue ; 

Then is Liberty's fair temple 

Rent in twain from top to bottom; 

Not one stone upon another 

Is left of that stately structure; 

And along the storm-swept pathway 

There is nothing but a desert. 

Only flints and shards remaining 

Save perhaps a ghastly relic, 

As upon the great Sahara 

Skeletons and bones are scattered 

Bleaching in the sand and sunshine ; 

Gloomy, ghastlier and darker 

Is the death-trail of the rum-fiend 

Than are all the scenes that follow 

In the wild wake of the cyclone 

Or the scorching simoon's pathway. 

46 



Yet in the city of Chicago 
From the meanest to the Mayor 
All the people know of these things, 
Know whence all of this arises, 
And throughout the State and Nation 
Both laity and clergy know it. 
Know the rum-shop is the hot-bed 
Where the evil seeds are planted 
Where they germinate and flourish 
Where they grow in rank profusion 
As poison as they are prolific. 
Though the people see and know this 
Yet they pass by without protest. 
Pass by like the scornful Levite 
When he saw his neighbor wounded 
And refused to give assistance. 
Hardened, cruel, unfraternal. 

If still further you should ask me 
Why is this and with what reason? 
Why is all of this permitted. 
Why this ruthless reign of ruin 
Far more criminal and causeless 
Far more cruel, base and baseless 
Than the red regime of terror 
Which the streets of Paris witnessed 
When the Seine was changed to crimson 
And ran purple to the ocean? 
Should you ask me for the reason 
I would be compelled to answer 
Forced to say, Alas I know not. 
It transcends my comprehension, 
It is even past conjecture 
How a human hand can do it 
How a human heart can sanction, 

47 



How by ballots and by bullets 
It is strengthened and protected 
It is cradled, nursed and nurtured, 
Made a ward of law by license, 
When it should be made an outlaw 
Like an anarchist and traitor 
Like a pirate and a felon. 

If still further you should question 
And insist upon an answer, 
Asking me who are the authors 
Who responsible and guilty 
For these dens and dives and brothels ; 
The saloon with all its evils 
Past the power of pen to picture. 
I would answer to your query, 
"Would respond to you in this wise: 
Every man who holds a ballot 
Which he does not cast against it 
Is a partner in the business. 
Every church that stands indifferent 
Gives its sanction by its silence. 
Every man and every woman 
Who is not at war against it. 
Who is neutral in the conflict 
Is responsible and guilty; 
For are not all men commanded 
To fight iniquity and hate it? 

And not only is this monster 
By the sword of law protected 
Shielded by the sacred aegis, 
But the guards of law and order 
In whose hands are held the scepter 
Still allow him further license 
Unrestrained to roam triumphant 

48 



Into fields by law forbidden, 
Far beyond all legal limits, 
There to ravage, waste and ruin 
With impunity and safety, 
Undisturbed and unmolested. 

Just the other day a woman, 
Who for many years had suffered, 
Three and twenty years had suffered 
From the trespass of this demon 
Who beyond his jurisdiction 
Had assailed her home and husband. 
Sought the Chief Police for succor. 
Sought the chief of all the warders 
By the hand of law appointed. 
For relief she sought assistance, 
Told her tragic, tear-stained story, 
But the chief refused to answer, 
Would not notice her petition. 
Would not even stop to listen. 
Said with an impatient gesture 
That he had no time to hear her. 
Was too busy for such matters. 
And she went away disheartened, 
This poor woman worse than widow. 
Sick at heart with hopes all buried. 
Helpless, hopeless, worse than homeless. 
Like ten thousand other women 
By this vicious monster martyred. 

O you faithless, false officials, 
O you timid moral cowards, 
O you horde of heartless ruffians. 
All you cowering Christless Christians, 
All you " Cant and Canteen " preachers. 
All you Methodist beer Bishops, 

49 



All of liquor's pious puppets, 

All you poltroon politicians, 

All you supine moral mollusks 

With your vertebrateless virtue. 

You are all in condemnation 

For these crimes you see and sanction, 

All alike in common guilty 

For this curse has not come causeless 

That the innocent should suffer 

For the evil deeds of others, 

O you conscience-seared spectators 

Of this tragedy enacted 

Every day and every minute. 

Yes, and you self-righteous sinners 

With your white sins of omission. 

And you host of temperance talkers. 

Whose every word belies your ballots, 

Yes, you are your brother's keeper 

And his blood calls loudly to you 

From the ground is loudly crying. 

But my friends in arms be valiant. 
Be both valorous and patient. 
O my comrades in the conflict 
Keep the burnished blade uplifted, 
Keep it keen and red and reeking. 
Let it rise and fall incessant 
On this monster hydra-headed. 
Drive it through the joints and marrow 
As the mighty gladiators 
Drove the short sword through the armor. 
Plunged it through the brazen breast-plate. 
Clove in twain the casque and helmet, 
So assail this fiend infernal; 
Strip his legal vestments from him, 

SO 



Tear the vizor from his features, 

Take away his shield — his Hcense, 

Take the sword from out his right hand, 

From his left hand take his buckler, 

Without pity let him perish, 

Give his carcass to be eaten 

By the jackals, dogs and vultures. 

Let his soul die with his body. 

Let his offspring be attainted. 

Let his memory be accursed. 

Then will earth be nearer heaven 
And the world be more like Eden 
Ere the subtle serpent entered. 
Then will bread be more abundant, 
Then will hunger be forgotten, 
In the poor man's sacred cottage. 
Then above each crib and cradle 
Will the arch of hope be higher 
Will the rainbow shine more brightly. 
Brighter gleam the bow of promise 
In a hundred thousand places. 
Then will home and heaven be blended 
Be synonymous and sacred. 
Then will innocence and beauty 
Walk about secure and safely 
And hope and harmony forever 
Arm in arm will walk together. 
Then will this nation be exalted 
For righteousness alone exalteth. 

As in the darkness dreams are brightest 
Let us in the inky midnight 
Of our seeming hopeless struggle 
Keep our faces towards the sunrise. 
Ever hoping, never doubting 

51 



That we shall behold the daybreak, 
See the sun rise up resplendent 
Like a glittering herald coming 
To proclaim our day of triumph, 
For these things shall surely follow, 
Those who fear not, faint nor falter. 
Victory hath wings, remember, 
And oftentimes comes very swiftly 
When the foemen are the strongest 
And their very strength their weakness. 
It will come to this great nation. 
It will come to this great city, 
It will come and none can stop it. 

(Read at the Woman's Temple, Chicago, before the Y. P. 
C. T. U., December 12, 1901.) 



52 



ALMA MATER 



WHEATON COLLEGE 

A lighthouse flaming on the coast 
Of Time's wild, rock-embattled deep, 

Sends light to where the furthermost 
Lone lookouts their long vigils keep ! 

Fiercely the adverse winds of time 
Have beaten on that tower of stone ; 

But still, serene, steadfast, sublime. 
Its faithful beacon-blaze has shone. 

When clouds have wrapped earth in their pall, 
And left the night without a star, 

Doomed vessels in the tempest's thrall 
Have seen its warning light afar, 

And when the ocean plunged and rolled 
It stretched its arms of light to save. 

As good St. Christopher of old 

Bore pilgrim bands across the wave! 

The ocean thunders at its base. 

And mountain billows lash its form; 

Smote by the lightning's iron mace 
And loud artillery of the storm; 

Yet calm, unmindful of the shock. 
Strong in its builders' wise designs. 

Firm-planted on th' eternal Rock, 

It lifts its light-crowned head — and shines ! 

The years — those tides on Time's wide waste 
That ebb and ebb but never flow — 

Have never seen that light effaced 
Nor tremor in its steady glow! 

55 



Tranquil, majestic may it stand 

Where Life's mad breakers roar, and send 
Its radiance over sea and land 

Till all the storms of Time shall end ! 

May 25, 1912. 

Song 

THE COLLEGE OF HONOR AND FAME 
(Tune: "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean") 
O Wheaton the theme of our story, 

The College of honor and fame. 
In thy past and thy present we glory 

And with gratitude mention thy name, 
And our hearts are filled to o'erflowing 

With thanks for the years that have fled. 
For the blessings thou now art bestowing 

And the hope of the long years ahead 

And the hope of the long years ahead 

And the hope of the long years ahead 
For the blessings thou now art bestowing 

And the hope of the long years ahead ! 

May the coming years add to thy powers 

And shine as resplendently bright 
As blossom the glorious flowers 

In the firmament fields of the night. 
And we send up our song salutation 

'Til the sky that is bending above 
Shall re-echo our deep admiration 

For the College we gratefully love! 

For the College we gratefully love 

For the College we gratefully love 
Shall re-echo our deep admiration 

For the College we gratefully love! 

56 



Oh, long have thy faith and devotion 

Stood the stress and the storms of the past 
As the beacons beside the wild ocean 

Meet the buffets of billow and blast. 
On thy lofty and grove-mantled station 

May thou stand 'til the end of the world 
With the flag of a purified nation 

Above thee in glory unfurled 

Above thee in glory unfurled 

Above thee in glory unfurled 
With the flag of a purified nation 

Above thee in glory unfurled! 
January 1, 1914. 



ALUMNI THOUGHTS 
(To a College mate of former years) 
O oft in retrospection, when 
We live o'er the past again. 
Like great Buddha meditating beneath the spreading 
bo, 
And behold the kindly ways 
We were guided through old days 
Then our swelling hearts confess the mighty debt we 
owe. 

And in full accord are we 
That the brightest spots we see. 
Like the hosts of burnished stars that fill the sky 
above. 
Are the student days we spent 
Here in peace and sweet content 
Beneath the noble Norman towers of the College that 
we love. 

57 



'Twas here in our plastic youth 

Stithied at the forge of truth 
That we were shaped and tempered for the wars to 
come, 

Trained and panopHed for strife 

In the nobler wars of life, 
Not the wars of blood and carnage and the battle drum. 

But 'twas anent the coming day 

Of the fiercer moral fray 
That we were taught the tactics by the bravest of the 
land, 

By those noble men and bold, 

Titan hearted, Vulcan souled, 
Who led and marshaled us and gave us the command. 

Warriors in the truceless fight 
Until the triumph of the right. 

In their fortitude sublime have we beheld them there, 
All like Caesar's soldiers leal, 
Linked to Cromwell's burning zeal, 

And with Lincoln's patient soul and Luther's heart to 
dare. 

And you know how good and grand 

Was the great leader of this band. 
With his noble crest resplendent as the helm of Mars 

And with a crown of glory bright 

As is the diadem of night 
Inlaid with blazing worlds and studded with the stars! 

As august and truly bold 
As Moses in the days of old 
(About whose body Lucifer and the archangel strove), 

58 



And on the moral battle plain 
Like imperial Charlemagne, 
And with the awe and majesty of cloud-compelling 
Jove. 

It was thus we saw his prime, 
But now upon that head sublime 

Have the hoary frosts and snows of Winter settled 
there, 
And on his god-like brow appears 
The pallor marks of many years 

And we note " his lyart haffets wearing thin an' bare." 

But a two-fold glory now 

Seems to halo him somehow 
And v/e love him even better than in the days of yore, 

When dark sin and error's place 

Fell before his mighty mace 
Like a mountain smitten by the iron sledge of Thor. 

Oh, yet may there be in store 
For our great teachers we adore 
A rich and sweeter aftermath than first-fruits of the 
mead; 
From Wisdom's lips a word of praise, 
From her right hand length of days 
And a wealth of Winter glories that nothing can 
exceed. 

Like stalwart sentinels they stood 
At duty's post for our good 
Through all the weak and sleeping hours of the long 
ago. 
And still may they ever stand 

59 



Like the pine trees green and grand 
In Winter's leafless forests capped with crowns of 
snow. 

Faithful Mentors were they all, 

As wise Gamaliel unto Paul, 
And our blessings rest upon them Hke a diadem ; 

Of such splendid men as these 

We are the heirs and legatees 
And our highest filial duty is to truly honor them. 

They gave to us a lofty code, 

They pointed out the royal road, 
They gave the card and compass for all the days to be ; 

Each rock and reef and shoal 

Between us and our goal 
They noted on the pilot-chart of Life's tempestous sea. 

The coast of luring siren's song, 
Every cove and reach of wrong 

That threatened to engulf or strand our little barque 
They marked down in v/ays that were 
So clear that none could ever err 

Although the trackless sea vv^as tempest-torn and dark. 

As guides beyond the outer bars 
They gave us fixed and gleaming stars 
And against the wind and current and list and under- 
tow 
They taught us how to tack and veer, 
To keep our courses true and clear 
With sleepless lookouts at the prow and all the lights 
aglow. 

Then how can those instructed here 
Make shipwreck of their life career 

60 



And drift like aimless derelicts the prey of tide and 
breeze, 
Upon the seething billows tossed 
With rudder gone and anchor lost, 
The menace, dread and terror of the travellers of the 
seas? 

How can they who here were fed 
And tasted the ambrosial bread 

Turn again with longing to the flesh-pots and the leeks 
And the drink of death endure 
Who here drank the draughts as pure 

As come from melting snows upon the mountain 
peaks? 

Why will men prefer to dine 
Upon the husks devoured by swine 
When meat and milk and honey are bountifully sup- 
plied ; 
Why will they pant and thirst and die 
With brimming rivers running by 
As fresh and welcome as the flood that flowed from 
Horeb's side! 
November 25, 1909. 

Song 

THE SCHOOL WE LOVE DEAREST 

(Tune: "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean") 

O Wheaton, the school we love dearest, 
O pride of the schools in the West, 
To our hearts thou art ever the nearest 
And thy precepts are purest and best. 
Oh, long may that grand Norman tower 
Which gladly and proudly we view, 

61 



Stand guard over us every hour 
Like a sentinel trusty and true 
Like a sentinel trusty and true 
Like a sentinel trusty and true 
Stand guard over us every hour 
Like a sentinel trusty and true ! 

Though tossed in the world's wild commotion 
Like ships in the midst of the sea 
" When winds are at war with the ocean," 
Our faith and our hope look to thee. 
And now while we sow for that reaping 
Which in life's harvest field is our part 
May we who are wards in thy keeping 
Keep close to thy great, glowing heart 
Keep close to thy great, glowing heart 
Keep close to thy great, glowing heart 
May we who are wards in thy keeping 
Keep close to thy great, glowing heart ! 

Let our lips tell the triumphant story 
And in tones that are lusty and strong 
Let thy greatness and good deeds and glory 
Be borne on the swift wings of song. 
May the songs that we sing stir and sweeten 
And keep green many memories dear 
And link us more closely to Wheaton 
The school that we love and revere 
The school that we love and revere 
The school that we love and revere 
And link us more closely to Wheaton 
The school that we love and revere ! 



62 



WHEATON COLLEGE ALUMNI SONG 
(Tune : " America ") 

O College great and free, 
Our songs arise to thee 

From grateful hearts; 
Home of our morning days 
Bright as the golden rays 
That greet our earthly gaze 

When night departs! 

Most noble in design, 
An altar and a shrine 

Thy tower stands. 
Chief of our hearts' concern 
To thee our thoughts return 
As pilgrim bosoms yearn 

From alien strands! 

Far in the days of old 
Choice spirits, wise and bold, 

Laid thy strong walls. 
Heroes in soul and thought 
Within thy temples wrought 
And there the truth they taught 

That disenthralls! 

For those of passing days 
Our voices rise in praise 

And songs are sung; 
As noble now as then. 
Thy sage and saintly men 
Kingly and true as when 

Thy days were young ! 

63 



Be thy strong spirit near 

And crowned with mem'ries dear 

Hold and sustain; 
Amid Life's toiUng marts 
As year by year departs 
Within thy children's hearts 

Abide and reign! 



ODE TO WHEATON COLLEGE 
O College we delight to name; 

Brave Titan from the giants sprung, 
At fifty years thou art but young, 
The Future is thy field of fame! 

Thou art emerging from the Night, 
The sable curtains are withdrawn 
And through the portals of the Dawn 

The world is flooded with the light! 

The glorious emblem of the free 

Aglow with white and crimson bars 
And field of blue abloom with stars 

Is proudly waving over thee! 

The children of thy struggling years. 

The valiant and strong-hearted, come 
Like soldiers at the rolling drum 

And add their leal and lusty cheers! 

Thy forward looking men of might. 
As truth to prophets is revealed, 
Beheld the far-off harvest field 

Beyond the confines of the night, 

And here an altar they upreared. 
As Bethel in the border land, 

64 



By each succeeding year more grand 
And to us more and more endeared ! 

Oh, there are tombs along the way, 
Mute sentinels to guard the Past, 
Bright stars that cannot be o'ercast 

By the effulgence of the Day! 

The potency of quiet graves 

In vain the powers of time assail. 
The unmarked shrine in Moab's vale 

Yet rules upon the land and waves ! 

Thine own heroic dead still live ; 
A force forever now is he * 
Who sleeps beside the western sea, 

Who gave us all he had to give! 

Whose gentle soul its genial light 
Shed roundabout his daily ways 
And crowned his kindly brow with bays 

Of blessings pure and starry bright! 

When sorrow's shadows crossed his heart 

And dark clouds drove athwart the sun, 
E'en then shone brighter one by one 

The stars, of which he seemed a part ! 

Great hearted, patient-souled and strong 
He threw the iron gates ajar 
And let the sunlight stream afar 

Across the darkened plains of wrong! 

He rests beside the restless sea; 

Yet say not that his work is done ; 

The goodly things by him begun 
Shall live through all the years to be ! 



*Prof. Elliot Whipple; buried at Chula Vista, California. 

65 



The Past is safe. Its laurel wreaths 
Of fresh and never-fading green 
Are bound by unseen bonds between 

The pulseless and the world that breathes ! 

The Present sounds its trumpet blast, 
To us the silver bugles call, 
Their notes resounding over all 

The mighty chorus of the Past! 

The fight is ours. But this fray 

Is not a brawl of battle drums ; 
Who standeth true, whatever comes, 

To him shall be the victor's bay! 

The palm is sure though seeming late; 

No good thing ever shall depart; 

Then thou, with reassured heart. 
In hope abide, with patience wait ! 

The seed the harvest time must bring; 
Behold the weary years it took 
To smooth the pebble in the brook 

To fit the stripling shepherd's sling ! 

But it shook Judah's hills with cheers 
And Israel's foe fled in dismay 
To see, on its appointed day. 

The triumph of those silent years! 

No deed is done but it shall mould 
The destiny of days unborn; 
Ours is the labor of the Morn, 

To other hands the harvest gold! 

66 



We make the future. In our hand 
It Hes akin to lifeless clay, 
And as we build and plan today 

So shall the future's temple stand ! 

The discords of our mortal strife 

The tuning orchestra may be 

Before it finds the proper key 
For the great symphony of Life ! 

Now in the Spring of thy career 

When all thy orchards are abloom, 
To where thy lordly towers loom 

We come with thanks, to praise and cheer ! 

(Read at the Alumni banquet in Ladies' Hall, Wheaton 
College, June 17, 1913.) 



Song 

THE GRADUATES' FAREWELL 

(Tune: "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton ") 
Sing softly, dear comrades, your love-laden lays 

Of Wheaton, the home of our happiest days ; 
The pathway is parting we journeyed along. 

Sing softly, for Wheaton, your gentlest song. 
We linger and look o'er the swiftly-flown years. 

The tenderest ties are unloosened with tears — 
We pause at the end of our journey awhile 

And turn back the shadows on memory's dial. 

How kindly, dear Wheaton, and graciously sweet 
You welcomed us here to this charming retreat. 

How gently you guided and bounteously blessed, 
And pointed us ever the way that was best. 

67 



How pleasant the clear, rippling river has run 
And carried us safely through shadow and sun, 

But now we have reached the wide, wild ocean-side 
And launch forth alone on the fast-rising tide. 

Our guiding star, Wheaton, you ever shall be. 

Our chart and our compass on Life's surging sea. 
How deeply it touches the chords of each heart, 

To sing the last song ere forever we part. 
Sing softly, dear comrades, your fondest farewells. 

Your songs that are sweeter than clear chiming bells. 
This primrose-bright path we shall travel no more. 

Sing softly for Wheaton, the school we adore! 

THE OLD SOCIETY HALL 

The choicest spirits I have met 
Within the vale of vain regret 

And barren sigh, 
I met within this circle here, 
This inner pale, this haloed sphere. 

In days gone by. 

The zeal the kindred soul imparts 
When heroes greet heroic hearts 

With royal cheer. 
The grandest boys I ever knew. 
The stalwart, honest, leal and true 

Enkindled here. 

Within this dear old hall we love, 
As welcome as the white winged dove 

Back to the ark. 
From isles remote and cities near 
The voyagers came and havened here 

Their little barque. 

68 



Of many ways and walks of life 
They mingled here in friendly strife 

In storm and calm; 
Rank and wealth were thrown aside 
And rich and poor a,s equals vied 

To win the palm. 

From north and south and east and west, 
Regardless how they had been blest 

By Fortune's star, 
They wrought, as far as in them lay, 
The burnished gold and common clay, 

Upon a par. 

Within the day book of my years 

With entries fraught with hopes and fears 

And inky blot. 
The brightest pages therein found 
Tell of the actions done around 

This sacred spot. 

There is no lovelier spot to see, 
No happier retrospect to me. 

No fairer isle. 
As I look down the rearward track, 
Or memory turns the shadows back 

Upon the dial. 

I see and hear and feel once more 

The sights and sounds and forms of yore; 

The glowing heart. 
The ones who now have crossed the bar, 
The youth whose " soul was like a star 

And dwelt apart." 

69 



Time, perchance, has lent its haze 
To form the giants of those days 

Unto our eyes, 
As forms appearing through the gloom 
Or mist or fog ofttimes assume 

Heroic size. 

Yet reason is there much for pride 
To see their places so supplied 

Since they held sway; 
For here are boys with as high aim. 
As ardent hearts and tongues of flame. 

And great as they. 

Out in the world or in this hall 
We are one kith and kindred all 

And one in plan: 
One aim, one spirit in the breast, 
One high resolve above the rest, 

To be a man. 
February 17, 1905. 



Song 

THE EXCELSIORS' FAREWELL 

(Tune: "My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night") 
The lights shine bright in the old Excelsior Hall 

'Tis springtime and all things are gay. 
The stars still gleam in our banner on the wall 

But we've come to the " parting of the way." 
The boys sing songs and our spirits they run high, 

All is genial and happy and bright, 
But the time has come when we all must say good-bye, 

To our old Excelsior Hall — good night ! 

70 



Chorus 

Parting now, forever, our love no tongue can tell; 
We will sing this song in the old Excelsior Hall, 
Then our old Excelsior Hall — farewell! 

This hall no more with Excelsior songs will ring 

And the boys they will come here no more ; 
We've sung the last song that ever we will sing 

Within the old hall we adore. 
We'll come no more with that fire in the heart 

That filled the old hall with delight. 
For the time has come when we all shall have to part, 

Then our old Excelsior Hall — good night! 

Chorus 

For long, long years in the shadow and the sun 

Has this dear old Hall been our friend, 
But the links must break, for our course of time has 
run, 

And our work in the old Hall must end. 
We linger long for we do not like to go 

From our old home so beautiful and bright, 
And we say good-bye while each heart doth overflow, 

To our old Excelsior Hall — good night! 

Chorus 



71 



FAREWELL TO THE SENIORS 

(To class of '98) 
Farewell to the class that today is departing 
Forever is leaving these towers and halls 
Off to the warfare of life they are starting 
Where duty may wait or where destiny calls. 
They are strong with the strength of a fearless en- 
deavor 
To launch 'gainst the gales and blasts of the world. 
May the pole-star of truth guide their courses forever, 
And their pennons of principle never be furled. 

Farewell to thee, friends! who forever are leaving 

We give you the hand of a friend as you go, 

The Ocean of Time is incessantly heaving 

And its tides though ever they ebb, never flow. 

Oh ! thanks for the years we have spent here together — 

The years that passed by on their swift golden wings, 

Let their memories cherished make sunshiny weather 

Though the future a failure or victory brings. 

Farewell! for the Seniors are leaving us only 

As we have commenced to admire their worth. 

Now they finish their course and leave us thus lonely 

And are scattered afar 'mong the nations of earth 

But a rainbow the cloud of the future is arching, 

A proof that somewhere there are sunbeams at play, 

May it be it is made by the radiant marching 

Of Sunbeams who go from our College today. 

Farewell to thee. Seniors ! each one is repeating, 
Farewell, Beltionians say to their friends 
Heed not the things that are transient and fleeting 
But strive for the greater and far better ends. 

72 



Farewell, Philaletheans fondly are waving 
To the first one of all of the lovers of truth, 
And deep in their hearts her name is engraving 
Who loved them so well in the days of their youth. 

Farewell to thee, Seniors! the banner of glory 
Is waving farewell from Excelsior Hall 
Bright names on the scroll of her glorious story 
Who will go where Excelsior spirit may call 
Long, long may that spirit still hover around you 
And its battle-cry ring up the Alps of your life. 
With the sword of that spirit as ever we found you 
Be first in the field and the foremost in strife. 

Farewell to thee. Seniors ! when the towers of Wheaton 

No longer your eyes again can behold 

May your love for our College still keep you and 

sweeten 
The memories green of the school days of old. 
With whatever allurements the future surround us 
Let our hearts keep awake to Society's voice 
Let the links never break in the chain that has bound 

us 
So close to each other and the school of our choice. 
June 24, 1898. 



73 



MISCELLANEOUS, MINOR AND 
PERSONAL 



Song 

MATER CARISSIMA 

To Virginia Hughes Herrick 

(On Her Eightieth Birthday) 

(Tune: " Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean") 

O Mother, today we can render 
But a tithe of the tribute that's due, 
As the deep faintly mirrors the splendor 
Of the stars in the infinite blue ; 
The lips cannot tell the heart's story 
Nor the blessings that we would bestow 
On thy head that is white with the glory 
Of fourscore Winters of snow 
Of fourscore Winters of snow 
Of fourscore Winters of snow 
On thy head that is white with the glory 
Of fourscore Winters of snow ! 

But deep in the silence unbroken 
Lie the treasures of love's purest gold 
More precious than language has spoken 
And truer than tongue ever told, 
And fair as the flow'ry creations — 
Mute minstrels of charm and delight — 
And pure as the grand constellations 
That silently sweep through the night 
That silently sweep through the night 
That silently sweep through the night 
And pure as the grand constellations 
That silently sweep through the night! 



With thy crown Hke the sunUght adorning 
The mountain with snow-covered crest 
Thou hast come from the portals of Morning 
To the Sunset land of the West 
With many more years than were promised — 
Exceeding the threescore and ten — 
And passing the point by the Psalmist 
Set down for the children of men 
Set down for the children of men 
Set down for the children of men 
And passing the point by the Psalmist 
Set down for the children of men! 

Not the strains of a song comprehending 
All the melodies under the sun 
When the daughters of music are blending 
Their symphonies sweet into one ; 
Nor the chimes and the great organ pealing, 
Nor the music that mortals e'er heard 
Can bring us the balm and the healing 
And the peace of thy comforting word 
And the peace of thy comforting word 
And the peace of thy comforting word 
Can bring us the balm and the healing 
And the peace of thy comforting word ! 

O Mother — all goodness combining — 
Our compass and chart thou shalt be 
And a star in the firmament shining 
To guide us o'er life's stormy sea. 
While the diadem grandly reposes 
On the head that is snowy and hoar 
May the season of lilies and roses 
Abide in the heart evermore 

78 



Abide in the heart evermore 
Abide in the heart evermore 
May the season of liHes and roses 
Abide in the heart evermore ! 

April 24, 1914. 



"DE SENECTUTE" 

"Age is opportunity no less 
Than youth, though in another dress." 

— Longfellow. 

Oh, how venerable is old age 

When a seer and saint and sage 
And a prophet and philosopher are blended into one. 

Blessed with moral vision keen 

And an abiding faith serene 
And with an inward consciousness of duty fully done ! 

And yet ere set of sun he may 
Do more than since the break of day, 
For life is gauged by lofty thought and not the meas- 
ured year. 
And oft a day of age in truth 
Is better than a year of youth 
As Nestor's wisdom counted more than Ajax' heavy 
spear ! 

The grandest men on history's page 
Have mostly worn the wreath of age 

And the evening twilight of their lives has been the 
best; 
Then the strains of David's lyre 
Flowed like gold refined by fire 

From out a glowing bosom beneath a snowy crest ! 

79 



Few gems of higher, richer truth 
Have been the treasure-trove of youth, 

But the great discoverers were men of hoary head, 
And the immortal songs were born 
Not in the realm of rosy morn 

But down among the sunset hills when Hesperus was 
red! 

Chaucer, the herald of the long 
And noble line of English song 
Gave us the " Canterbury Tales " in measures quaint 
and old 
After the heat of noon had ceased. 
When shadows lengthened towards the East 
And he was on the Western slope amid the Autumn 
gold! 

The " CEdipus " of Sophocles 
And the prize verse of Simonides 
Were written more than eighty years after the morn- 
ing lark. 
And Theophrastus' virile pen 
Produced the " Characters of Men " 
When he had lived a dozen years beyond the fourscore 
mark! 

Milton and Homer blind and old 
Poured their mighty floods of gold 

In all the lofty major chords of melody sublime 
While they stood like ripened grain 
Upon the whitened harvest plain 

Within the bending sickle of hoary-headed Time ! 

At Weimar in his loved retreat 
Goethe gave us " Faust " complete 
After his hour-glass had run full eighty years of sand ; 

80 



And oft a sunset glory dwells 
Within the vale of vesper bells 
As if in forecast of the splendors of the Better Land ! 

November 25, 1909. 



THE ANGEL ISRAFEL 

" And the angel Israfel whose heart strings are a lute and 
who has the sweetest voice of all God's creatures." — Koran. 

I have read in the Koran a story, 
A legend both honored and hoary 
That in Paradise haloed with glory 

Lives an angel with wonderful powers, 
And he holds all his listeners mute 
For his heart strings, they say, are a lute 
And his voice is a musical flute 

And his songs are all blossoming flowers. 

And Paradise ever is ringing 

With the strains of his wonderful singing 

And to each song a message is clinging — 

A message of manifold meaning, 
Proclaiming as only he could. 
One burden not well understood. 
That Allah, great Allah, is good 

Surpassing all fanciful dreaming. 

And the stars in their courses all listened, 
As they glittered and glinted and glistened. 
To this angel tradition has christened 

The sweetest voiced singer in heaven. 
And they flashed his notes down from on high. 
And they wrote out his songs on the sky. 
And the dark souls of mortals thereby 

Were leavened with heavenly leaven. 

81 



I know it is just a tradition, 

A sweet and sublime superstition, 

Yet worthy of much repetition 

Because of its potent suggestions. 
For the legend, I think, is a test 
Of the highest and truest and best 
That man has found in his quest 

For the answers to answerless questions. 
1900. 



THE DEAD YEAR 

Another surge — a rolling year — 
Has broken on the shore of Time, 

That sea upon whose wastes appear 
Ages like argosies sublime! 

I stood and watched the billow roll 
Its dripping wreckage on the sand. 

Mute relics of the tragic toll 

Paid into Time's all-grasping hand! 

Old worn-out derelicts and wrecks. 

And splintered masts and broken spars 

Swept off in tempests from the decks 
Lay strewn along the sandy bars! 

The lordly merchantman, the fleet 
Of dreadnaughts and the men-of-war 

By stress of Time lay in complete 
And common ruin on the shore ! 

Bright argosies that with acclaim 
Sailed forth with officers and crew 

And on their maiden voyage became 
The victims of the treacherous blue, 

82 



And fleet feluccas light and gay 
As sea-gulls skimming o'er the deep 

And glory-shorn proud galleys, lay 
Within Time's all-embracing sweep! 

The small were even as the great 
For Time had chastened all of pride 

And in one equal, low estate 
They lay along the Ocean side ! 

O Time upon thy boundless sea 
Cycles and centuries ebb and flow 

And all thereon must bow to thee, 
Salute and dip their pennants low; 

But all was not of stranded barks 
Upon the laden billows borne, 

Nor wrecks that bore the fatal marks 
Of Ocean's fury, tempest-torn. 

For goodly vessels not of those 
Among the breakers on the shore 

Found in fair havens safe repose 
Beyond the wrathful Ocean's roar. 

With sails and streamers reefed and furled 
Calmly and tranquilly they cease 

Their long cruise of the cruel world 
And rest serene in perfect peace. 

They held their courses to the Pole— 
The fixed and constant Cynosure 

Through perils both of deep and shoal 
And tempting sirens' subtle lure! 

83 



Oh, with what glory they appear 

That rode with honor through the strife, 

Now crowned and safely-havened here 
After the buffetings of Ufe! 

I saw approaching many sails, 
Some near and others yet afar. 

Some wrestling with mid-ocean gales 
And some within the outer bar! 

Some riding lightly as in sport, 

Some freighted to the rails with grief, 

All destined for the selfsame port 
Or as the prey of rock and reef! 



VOYAGE OF " THE SUNBEAM " 
Afar upon the sapphire blue 

Off towards the Islands of the West 
I saw among a chosen few 

One ship more goodly than the rest. 

With a bright splendor all her own 
E'en from moon-raker to the keel 

On all her ways a glory shone 
And grace and beauty set their seal. 

I viewed her as she went and came 
Intently with hand-shaded brow 
And read that queenly vessel's name 
" The Sunbeam " blazoned on the prow. 

Full busy both in storm and calm, 
With blessings beyond human ken 

She carried loads of healing balm 
To all the stricken isles of men. 

84 



Kind words and smiles and hopeful cheers 
(The Sunbeam's signal code are these) 

She sent across the waste of years 
To all upon Time's troubled seas. 

And she was blessed by everyone 
And hailed with such joy and delight 

As sailors greet the rising sun 
After a dark, tempestuous night. 

The queen of all the boundless sea 
With treasure islands for her prize 

Long may The Sunbeam's voyage be 
Beneath serene and cloudless skies. 

And when she sets her homeward sails 

In distant after years afar 
May pilot wise and favoring gales 

Bring her within the harbor bar! 

1911. 

STRAYING THOUGHTS 
This is my day to sit and muse, 

Or wander through the misty maze 
Where Fancy, led by Chance, pursues 

Her devious, uncharted ways. 

I sweep the vista of the past 
And read it like an open scroll, 

I drop my plummet in the vast 

Deep, unknown oceans of the soul. 

I range the fields of bygone days 

Amid the roses and the rue 
Recalling half-forgotten lays. 

Comparing old friends with the new. 

85 



I kneel by Memory's deep spring 
That bubbles joyously and free 

And drink refreshing draughts that bring 
New life and hope and strength to me. 

I bare my forehead to the breeze 

And listen to its magic lore, 
The tales it brings across the seas 

And from the far-off alien shore. 

I hear the mighty sea-winds blow 
And the music wild and grand 

When Neptune's crested legions throw 
Their silver helmets on the sand. 

I breathe the fragrant aftermath 
Of fields I sowed in other days, 

And I retrace the backward path 

Through all its thorny-primrose ways. 

I pause by many grass-grown mounds 
And closely scan the chiseled stone, 

And the names that have familiar sounds 
I utter in an undertone. 

The birds sing in the boughs that bend 
Like cypress o'er the somber tomb 

And their sweet songs with sadness blend 
Like mass-bells in cathedral gloom. 



86 



Song for 

MEMORIAL DAY 
(Tune: "America") 
Old soldiers, over thee 
The flag is floating free 

And full of stars ; 
Proud of the noble band 
That gave it to our land, 
Preserved by valor's hand 
And battle scars! 

In smoke and flame it flew 
Above the hosts of blue 

On fields of war; 
Through treason's iron rain 
You bore it without stain 
Upon the crimson plain 

In days of yore! 

Your heads are whitened now 
And time upon your brow 

Has left its trace. 
And slower now your tread 
Than when the charge was led 
And Freedom's foemen fled 

Before your face ! 

Yet in your matchless eye 
As the thinned lines go by 

We see the gleam 
And spirit as of old 
When clouds of conflict rolled 
To keep the starry fold 

Without a seam ! 

87 



In gratitude and love 
Pure as the stars above 

This day we keep 
For men the world reveres, 
For those who live, our cheers. 
And a great nation's tears 

For those who sleep! 



FLAG OF THE EIGHT AND FORTY STARS 

Flag of the eight and forty stars 

Aflame in a field of blue ; 
Flag of the white and crimson bars 

Entrancing fair to view! 

Flag of the eight and forty stars 
Of war and whirlwind born 

And kept by death and battle-scars 
Unsullied and untorn! 

On thy white field the crimson bars 

Mean rivers running red 
That the flag of eight and forty stars 

Might wave above my head! 

When War's portentous pall hangs low 
Dark as the frown of Mars 

Fiercely shall gleam amid the foe 
Thine eight and forty stars! 

In Freedom's name may every breeze 
Fling out thy blood-red bars 

And proudly flaunt o'er land and seas 
Thine eight and forty stars! 



Song 
DEWEY, THE PRIDE OF THE NAVY 

(Tune: "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean") 
O Dewey, the pride of the nation, 

The pride of the navy and sea 
With proud and profound admiration 

This people is honoring thee ! 
With streamers and flags wild and wavy 

And with triumphal arches for you 
We hail you the Pride of the Navy, 

The greatest the world ever knew. 

The greatest the world ever knew 

The greatest the world ever knew 
We hail you the Pride of the Navy, 

The greatest the world ever knew. 

On the page of our triumphant story 
Where Columbia's brave Admirals are 

With our navy enhaloed with glory 
Shines many a radiant star. 

But the gem of the whole constellation 
That gleams so resplendently bright 

Is the star of the pride of the nation 
Unsurpassed in its luster and light. 
Unsurpassed in its luster and light 
Unsurpassed in its luster and light 

Is the star of the pride of the nation 
Unsurpassed in its luster and light. 

So long as the world keeps in motion 

And the red, white and blue waves in air 

With our fleet proudly ploughing the ocean 
Will the stars of his glory be there. 

89 



'Till we meet with grim Death, the Destroyer, 
We will honor Columbia's son 

And with cheers for this old ocean-warrior 
We will keep what his valor has won, 
We will keep what his valor has won 
We will keep what his valor has won 

And with cheers for this old ocean-warrior 

We will keep what his valor has won. 

October 10, 1899. 

(For Dewey Day in Chicago.) 



(Decoration Day Song) 
THE BOYS IN THE BLUE 
(Tune: "The Red, White and Blue") 
O soldiers who saved our nation, 

And sailors who fought on the sea, 
Today in rapt admiration 

A world weaves its garlands for thee. 
Today, with words warm and tender 

We speak of the host, brave and true — 
Our glorious Republic's defender 

That followed the red, white and blue. 

That followed the red, white and blue, 

That followed the red, white and blue ; 
Our glorious Republic's defender 

That followed the red, white and blue ! 

When the guns of rebellion were roaring 
And treason was piping her pipes. 

These millions of heroes were warring 
In defense of the stars and the stripes. 

Our tears and our cheers are combining 
As their trials and triumphs we view, 

90 



And the stars of their glory are shining 
In the folds of the red, white and blue, 
In the folds of the red, white and blue, 
In the folds of the red, white and blue ; 

And the stars of their glory are shining 
In the folds of the red, white and blue ! 

Today we remember the sleeping — 
The Grand Army long gone before ; 

Today fair Columbia is weeping 

For brave sons who died in the war ! 

Their graves let us cover with flowers — 
The fairest that earth ever grew ! 

With banners — these heroes of ours — 
Who died for the red, white and blue. 
Who died for the red, white and blue. 
Who died for the red, white and blue ; 

With banners — these heroes of ours — 
Who died for the red, white and blue! 

'Mid flowers and banners and glory. 

With words that are welcome and warm ; 

Like the rainbow, our flag tells the story: 
"I'm a child of the sun and the storm." 

Columbia shall always endeavor 
To honor the fast-fleeting few ; 

The old soldiers and sailors forever ! 
Three cheers for the boys in the blue. 
Three cheers for the boys in the blue. 
Three cheers for the boys in the blue ; 

The old soldiers and sailors forever. 
Three cheers for the boys in the blue ! 



91 



THE INWARD MONITOR 

I am dubious of the days to be ; 

My foes are strong and cruel men; 
There shines no light, no star for me 

Within the sweep of Reason's ken. 

To eyes of sense the way is dark, 

While conscience shines a star serene, 

And I'm a tempest-driven barque 
Upon the unseen and the seen. 

My foes are many, bold and stout 
And crafty as the imps of hell ; 

They press and compass me about 
Like Ocean 'round a diving bell. 

But in despite of seeming things 
I fear not but that I shall win ; 

For there's a harp with truer strings 
There is a clearer voice within. 

A clearer truth it truer tells 

With soft, but more persuasive note 
Than told by tongues of iron bells 

Or shouted from a stentor throat. 

For conscience has a simple code 

To lead us through the dark and day. 

And is upon life's winding road 

The only guide that knows the way. 

And where it sends me I will go 
And what it tells me I will do ; 

I see nor understand, yet know 
That inward monitor is true. 

92 



And all I ask the kindly fates 
Is light to see my foeman's face 

And press the battle to the gates 

With reeking blade and bloody mace. 

January 1, 1907. 

A THANKSGIVING THOUGHT 

Oh, blessed be the dreams of day 
And blessed be the dreams of night 

In which we leave the tent of clay 
And roam beyond the realms of sight ! 

I see you by the far-off main, 

I bring you on the wings of thought, 

For Fancy's lightning aeroplane 

Counts twenty hundred miles as naught ! 

But pause upon this Day of Thanks 
Amid Life's never-resting war 

Where men crowd on in serried ranks 
Like ocean billows to the shore. 

And let us look with candor through 
The Day Book of the dying year 

With all the entries, false and true, 
That on its faded leaves appear! 

We count the bruises and the balm, 
We check the gladness and the grief, 

We weigh the tempests and the calm, 
The blossoms and the yellow leaf, 

And when the final score is told 

We scarce would change it if we could. 

For the weal exceeds a thousand fold 
The ill — which may be disguised good! 

93 



A CHRISTMAS SALUTE 

To the Rose that blooms as gay 

In the Winter as in May 
With a glory that is very superfine, 

I send with this little song 

All the good things that belong 
To the season of the holly and the pine ! 

All the cheer and joys that go 
With the yule and mistletoe 

And the peace that rests upon the happy earth 
Be with her and there abide, 
But increased and magnified 

In accordance with her goodness and her worth ! 

December 25, 1913. 



DESPAIR 

The Sun has set. The light is lost, 

And I live in the afterglow 
When Autumn's hoar and killing frost 

Is blending with the Winter snow! 

My tree of Hope is stripped and bare 
And sere and yellow all its leaves, 

As Nature voices her despair 

Lamenting Summer's golden sheaves! 

Withered to its lowest roots 
And to its branches' endmost tips, 

Like Sodom's apples all its fruits 
Have turned to ashes on my lips! 

94 



The trees like choir lofts when all 
The winged choristers have flown 

Wrapped in a deep cathedral pall 
Stand desolate and dark and lone! 

sunken sun, my sinking heart 
Like thee is shrouded in eclipse. 

And all my hopes now have their part 
In Despair's deep and sunless crypts! 

1 call on Sleep to close my eyes 

And hide dark Sorrow's raven plume, 
Nor care I if the Sun arise 

For he cannot dispel my gloom! 
November 27, 1913. 



THE GOLDEN WEDDING 

In shade and sun for fifty years 

A pathway through this vale of tears 

Did wend its winding way; 
Begun when war was in the land 
It ran, with Union, hand in hand 

Unto this peaceful day! 

With heart and hand and sword and pen, 
Brave soldiers for the weal of men 

You bore the noblest parts. 
And as befits the brave and true 
We twine the laurel wreaths for you, 

O good and kindly hearts! 

In Summer's heat and Winter's blast; 
Through sunny fields with clouds o'ercast 
Where rue and roses grew, 

95 



The good and ill that all must bear 

From raven locks to whitened hair 

You bore serene and true ! 

And now within your crowns of snow 
May happy thoughts of long ago 

Gleam as precious gems, 
And as the flying years increase 
May you wear in health and peace 

Your well-earned diadems! 

January 26, 1914. 



PURE FRIENDSHIP 

Yes, we are friends 

And there it ends, 
But our friendship never, 

And never may 

We see the day 
That shall those bonds dissever. 

Within the sphere 

Of Friendship dear 
And in that sphere abiding, 

Give us the creed 

Of heart and deed 
And faith in Friendship's guiding! 

Indeed, I hold 

Dearer than gold 
Friendship's beacons burning 

That give to life 

Light for the strife 
From day to day returning ! 

96 



No crystal draught 

That men have quaffed 
Nor breezes from the mountain 

Can buoy me up 

Like one clear cup 
From Friendship's flowing fountain! 

A real friend 

Can heal and mend 
A spirit sad and broken — 

A cure complete 

For all defeat — 
By one word kindly spoken! 

Then without art 

Let heart to heart 
Send to each other greeting 

And add a joy 

Free from alloy 
At every casual meeting ! 

Let's know the bounds 

And shoals and sounds 
And where to drop the plummet, 

Where waves run high 

And to the sky 
Lift up their foamy summit! 

Let us clasp hands 

Like iron bands 
As friends — and never falter 

'Till embers bright 

Turn ashen white 
Upon Life's glowing altar! 

97 



Upon the scroll 

Whereon my soul 
Acknowledges its debtors, 

Brilliant and clear 

There shall appear 
Your name in golden letters! 

I prize your worth 

And kindly mirth, 
And prize them very greatly, 

And like a queen 

Your regal mien 
So ladyUke and stately! 

In bold relief 

Among the chief 
Of all I hold the dearest 

Your name shall stand 

Serene and grand 
The brightest and the clearest! 

I'll write that name 

With pen of flame 
Upon the list I cherish 

Where it shall stay 

'Till that far day 
When white-beard Time shall perish. 

May poets' rhymes 
And silver chimes 
And strains of music blending 
Make life one long 
And grand, sweet song 
In glorious cadence ending! 
May 9, 1914. 

98 



ROSE FOR REMEMBRANCE 
(To a friend) 

To speak in prose 
To a sweet rose 

Would be a wrong, 
And so I need 
My rustic reed 

To pipe a song. 

Full-blossomed May 
In one bouquet 

To you I send 
To let you know 
Where'er you go 

You have a friend. 

And if sometime 
In an alien clime 

I shall appear, 
(As I may do 
Before I'm through 

Another year) 

And flowers fair 
Bloom everywhere 

And skies are blue, 
Each rose I see 
Shall bring to me 

A thought of you. 

When ocean wave 
And winds that rave 
Shall bear me far, 

99 



Though vain I yearn, 
Thought shall return 
To where you are. 

And when I feel 
Beneath the keel 

The grating rock 
And bulkheads thin 
Shall crumble in 

Before the shock, 

I'll climb the mast 
And take a last 

Long look toward home, 
Then with the ship 
I'll take a dip 

Beneath the foam 

Where with my head 
On coral bed 

I'll lie and dream. 
While high above 
The stars I love 

In grandeur gleam. 

I'll dream of you 
With all my true 

And cherished friends 
And drink a toast 
To all the host 

That comprehends. 

But if my fate 
Shall be to wait 
Another doom 

100 



Where death shall come 
With rolling drum 

And cannons' boom; 

Where shells shall shriek 
And sabers reek 

With Life's red wine 
Flowing so free 
It shall the sea 

Incarnadine, 

Amid the fray 
Where horses neigh 

And men fall dead, 
A rose in bloom 
Shall be the plume 

Upon my head. 



May 9, 1914. 



AN APPRECIATION 

Your hearts' good gifts 
Came like the rifts 

In cloudy skies 
That give a view 
Of Heaven's blue 

To weeping eyes! 

Your kindly words 
Were singing birds 

Unto my ear 
And to my heart 
A flaming dart 

Of mighty cheer! 

101 



As thirsty plain 
Receives the rain 

With grateful breast 
An<4 flowers raise 
Their heads to praise 

The welcome guest, 

Just so from you 
The healing dew 

Upon me fell, 
And no sweet balm 
Prom pine to palm 

Could sooth so well! 

As Jordan did 
Each year amid 

The harvest time, 
My stream of thanks 
O'erflows its banks 

In prose and rhyme! 

To some you say 
I answer, nay. 

Because I know; 
And yet 'tis fine 
That friends of mine 

Should think it so! 

Lily and rose 
Until we close 

Life's little book, 
Let us, I plead. 
Be friends in deed 

And word and look! 



May 15, 1914. 

102 



FROM A WAYFARER 

(With flowers) 
Sweet Saint Cecilia of our day, 
The patroness of Music's art, 
I send you with this roundelay 
That bubbles from a friendly heart 
And give unto your tender care 
That never did a creature wrong, 
These flowers, thought-surpassing fair — 
The silent notes of Nature's song — 

And with them all the healing dews 
And balm upon their fragrant leaves; 
And may my never-sleeping Muse 
Sit at the loom where Fancy weaves, 
And in the wondrous warp and woof 
Of the rich tapestry of Fame 
With shining shuttles, error proof. 
With threads of gold weave in your name. 

Oh, may a sweet smile be the prize 
And favor that these flowers find 
Within your clear and kindly eyes — 
The windows of triumphant mind. 
From a wayfarer passing by 
And plucking flowers 'long the way 
Receive these buds ; — and 'till you die 
May life be sweet and fair as they! 
February 7, 1914. 



103 



TO A SICK FRIEND 

(With flowers) 

This little nosegay that we send 
Is mute — yet you can comprehend 

The story that it tells, 
E'en as there is no need of words 
To interpret the songs of birds 

Or notes of silver bells! 

Every floweret bright and gay 
Doth ope its smiling lips to say 

That all your friends are true ; 
And for your royal health we pour 
The crystal full and brimming o'er 

And drink it dry to you ! 

Be thou, O strong man, of good cheer ; 
In gloom the songs of saint and seer 

With clearer cadence rang; 
These flowers blossomed after rain, 
And in a sweeter, purer strain 

The chastened Psalmist sang ! 

The sweet and honey-laden phlox 
And tall, rich-colored hollyhocks. 

And all within the scope 
'Twixt violet and drifting snow. 
And all the scented winds that blow 

Are prophecies of Hope! 

So brace your heart and mind and soul. 
And shortly, safe and sound and whole, 
We'll see you face to face 

104 



Eager and ready for the strife 
And down the long highway of Life 
To run a goodly race ! 



TO A COLLEGE FRIEND 

wise, winsome friend of mine 
Whose name to many a tuneful line 

Inspired my pen, 
How many stanzas in old days 

1 wrote, then cast into the blaze, 

" I dinna ken." 

But surely all together massed 
Would make a conflagration vast 

And fervent heat; 
And if the embers now were stirred 
They'd rise up like the phoenix-bird 

And warble sweet. 

I think it's often well, you know. 
Amid the surge and ebb and flow 

Of worldly strife 
To make a little pause, a calm, 
A Selah passage in the Psalm 

Of busy life, 

Just long enough to drop a line 
Or speak a word or make a sign 

Or wave a hand ; 
It lifts us where the white clouds float 
And holds us like a sustained note, 

I think it's grand! 

105 



So take this as my kind salute, 
It's better than remaining mute 

As Egypt's Sphinx. 
If aught is lacking won't you try 
Out of your good heart to supply 

The missing links? 



AN EASTER GREETING 

The sweetest season of the year, 
The Spring with all its bloom, is here 
When latent life doth first appear 

And everything is green and growing, 
When Nature wears a verdant plume 
And loads the air with sweet perfume 
From buds just bursting into bloom, 

When balmy breezes, too, are blowing. 

On every side we see the sign 
Of the handiwork of the divine. 
E'en in the clouds the rainbows shine 

And earth is one great emerald beauty ; 
The singing streamlet softly flows 
Fed from its fields of melting snows, 
'Tis the " time of Romeo and the rose " 

And the sleepless sentinel is on duty. 

It is the Easter time of earth — 
Of resurrection and new birth — 
When Nature sings her songs of mirth. 

Of promise, gladness and good tidings. 
No mortal minstrel's harp howe'er 
Strung with Apollo's golden hair 
In songs with Nature can compare 

To satisfy the soul's confidings. 

106 



Now in the Easter of our lives 
When hopes like rainbow arches rise 
Proclaiming promise from the skies 

Which Youth and Spring are both repeating, 
I wish as from a friend to friend, 
And may we be so to the end, 
To you, my College mate, to send 

A kindly, cordial Easter greeting. 



A THANKSGIVING DAY MUSE 
(To a friend) 

A year of disappointments keen 
Has reached its close. 
Of buried expectations, e'en 
As Autumn with its golden sheen 
Beneath the snows, 

And barren as a Winter wood 

The world appears ; 
Where once a leafy forest stood 
A lone, green pine with snowy hood 

Its head uprears! 

Adverse winds have blown since then 

Upon us all 
And nipped the flowering hopes of men 
And the white petals fell as when 

The snow flakes fall! 

Yet for our special thanks this Day 

Is set apart — 
And if we look aright we may 
Discern amid the gloom a ray 

To cheer the heart! 

107 



Behold the berries bright and red 

On holly bough 
Aflame with life — though earth is dead 
And Winter's counterpane is spread 

Upon it now ! 

Forgetting what 'twere vain to mourn 

Let us but see 
The blessings that the year hath borne 
Prom Fortune's overflowing horn 

To you and me ! 

Thanks for memories that endear 

Our College home 
And the men whose lives appear 
Like the stars serene and clear 

Above its dome; 

For the strength and grace to do 

The things we should, 
And hearts to stand up with the few 
And cast a ballot pure and true 
And wholly good; 

For the mortal wounds the wrong 

Hath lately felt 
In the blows that felled the strong 
And lordly license party's throng, 

However dealt! 

Though the wicked smote and slew 

Their wicked kin, 
Yet are thanks and praises due 
That the hosts are growing few 

That license sin! 



108 



And for the routing of this host 

Of evil years, 
(A theme for Deborah, almost,) 
Add thou a patriotic boast 

To lusty cheers! 

And indeed, what can afford 

A sight more grand 
Than woman to her rights restored 
With a white ballot for a sword 

Within her hand! 

While baffled evils cringe and grope 

Through darkened ways, 
We walk the broad highway of hope 
While in our retrospective scope 
Lie golden days! 

But dearer than the showy sheen 

Of earthly arts 
Are thoughts — with naught to intervene- 
Like the telepathy between 

Two human hearts! 

Be thou content and full of peace, 

Calm and serene. 
Yet with a song that shall not cease 
Until the spirit finds release 

In the Unseen! 

May you in Mercy's work be such 

A force for weal 
That pain shall cease, however much, 
And whatsoever wounds you touch 

Shall straightway heal, 

109 



As Filomena's hands restored 

In Crimea's day 
The ragged wounds of Russia's sword 
Where in Scutari's groaning ward 

The EngHsh lay! 

And may the final record tell 

In the great book 
That we wrestled long and well 
As Jacob did in Penuel 

Beside the brook, 

And that we truly loved our friend 

As our own life 
In ways that did not wind or bend 
But ran unswerving to the end 

Of mortal strife ! 

The rose and lily fresh with dew, 

And bergamot, 
I send an offering unto you ; 
Wear thou for me the tiny, blue 

Forget-me-not ! 
1912, 



MEMORIES THAT MAKE US STRONG 

As bud and blossom and ripe fruit 
And years on years in swift pursuit 

Each other press, 
So at this time of thanks and praise 
Come crowding thoughts of other days 

To cheer and bless! 

110 



Oft in such hours as this I chance 
To take a retrospective glance 

Adown the years, 
The sunny years by shadows crossed 
And disillusionments that cost 

Us many tears ! 

I see again before me spread 
The winding ways where folly led 

Through bitter-sweet: — 
The blasted hope, the shattered dream, 
And the victory that did redeem 

All sore defeat! 

I've thought of you, brave friend and good, 
Full many times as I have stood 

With flag unfurled, 
Or battled in the truceless fight 
Wherein the darkness strives with light 

To win the world! 

And until now I've sung your praise, 
And shall through all the coming days 

In honest rhyme, 
With glad heart brimming o'er with thanks 
As Jordan overflows its banks 

In harvest time! 

For in the recent days I bore 
A sword and buckler in that war 

You sent me to. 
And foremost in the battle's van 
Did all the puny arm of man 

Alone can do! 

Ill 



Whene'er I face the hosts of Drink, 
To which all other evils link 

And join their plans, 
The echo of your words produce 
A fervor like the heart of Bruce 

Among the clans! 

Ofttimes with frowning hordes around 
Have we been beaten to the ground 

But not to stay 
Like those who " mute inglorious " lie, 
For we're the kind that never die 

Though turned to clay! 

The armies of the Fiend are vast 
And cruel as the icy blast 

That sweeps the North 
And all things wither like the leaf 
Before the wild raids of the Chief 

That leads them forth! 

But surely shall the time arrive 
When you and I are both alive 

And he is dead, 
If we are blessed with sense and grace 
And mortal strength to swing a mace 

And cleave his head! 

Oh, doubt thou not that he shall fall 
Cut down in ghastly ruin, all 

As on that day 
Back in his temple in Ashdod 
Prostrate before the ark of God 

Old Dagon lay! 

112 



Then when the shouting victors march 
Beneath the great triumphal arch 

In grand review, 
The friend whose voice was worth a host 
Shall wear the laurel with the most 

Stalwart and true ! 

Strong unto life, oh, let us cling 
Like Winter's v^^ithered leaf in Spring 

Still on the tree, 
That firm, tenacious to the last 
Defies the buffets of the blast 

To shake him free! 

Until your life's long day is done 
May Laughter's rippling river run 

Full to the brink; 
And better than unmeasured wealth 
Oh, may you be of buoyant health 

The very pink! 

And meanwhile Heaven bless your store 
And in your lap kind Fortune pour 

All that she hath; 
And brightly bloom the beauteous rose 
And balmy be the breeze that blows 

Around your path! 

My parting prayer is that henceforth 
May all the vigor of the North 

Be in your heart 
Wherein shall Hope and Peace preside 
And Joy and sv,/eet Content abide 

And not depart! 



113 



TO A FRIEND IN SORROW'S SHADOWS 

Friend a thousand leagues away 
My thoughts are all of you today, 

And thought can quickly span the space parting me 
from thee ; 

1 on Chicago's outer rim 

You on the western ocean's brim 
Down in the City of the Angels by the sunset sea. 

Oh, how often have they sped 
Between us in the year that's fled, 

With loads of healing in their wings to solace your sad 
heart, 
And in the dark days of your grief 
With healing balm to give relief. 

To lift the heavy, inky pall and rift the clouds apart. 

Though laden with a good intent 
On futile missions were they sent. 
For heavy hearts by happy songs are never made more 
light. 
But though we know we can but fail 
Yet still we strive to part the veil, 
To push aside and pin with stars the curtains of the 
night. 

Oh, I have been appalled to view 
The darkened valley you passed through 
Beneath the heavy clouds of care, beholding through 
your tears 
The crowning sorrow of your days, 
The parting of the earthly ways 
And breaking of the dearest ties of all the fleeting 
years. 

114 



And in your overwhelming gloom 

Deep as a black funereal plume 
Or as the raven robe of night ungarnished by the stars, 

My sympathies went out in lieu 

Of rod and staff to comfort you 
Like the tidal waves of ocean sweeping all the harbor 
bars. 

That all is but the common fate 
Does not one jot alleviate 
The heart-aches at the parting for the rest of mortal 
day, 
But this last hour leaves a trace 
That time and change will not efface 
Until the beating breast is still and memory fades 
away. 

That mortal man was made to mourn 
Makes no less sharp the piercing thorn 

And all the sorrows of the world do not diminish mine. 
But each must tread the press alone 
From thrall to king upon the throne 

And from the lowly cotter to the prince of royal line. 

For so the sad procession goes 
From violets to drifting snows, 
From the baby's golden locks to the old man's whit- 
ened hair, 
Changing slowly day by day 
As embers turn from red to gray 
And the glowing, radiant forehead to the wrinkled 
brow of care. 

In the great drama of the past 
Through chiliads and cycles vast 
Man has played the tragic role, the comic and the 
mime, 

115 



From the anchorite and clown 
Up to learning's cap and gown 
And in every form and fashion from the grotesque to 
sublime. 

Since the creation's primal dawn 

He has been but the puny pawn 
By fickle Fortune's index finger pushed about at will 

Across the checker-board of Fate 

Where light and darkness alternate, 
Held by the players, life and death, the hazard of their 
skill. 

But doubtless we need griefs and joys 
To keep our souls in equipoise 
And that the judgments laid on us are just and right 
decrees, 
And like the royal orb of day 
Shower rich blessings all the way 
From Aurora's rosy portals to the sapphire sunset 
seas. 

Then let us lay aside the rue 
And pin the hearts-ease on in lieu 
With thoughts of buds and blossoms and not of with- 
ered leaves; 
But of bright flowers of the Spring 
When feathered songsters mate and sing 
And swallows swiftly skim the waters and build along 
the eaves. 

O Sunbeam fair, the brightest one 
Shot from the quiver of the Sun 
Since the primeval darkness that moved upon the deep 

116 



Fled in its utter rout away 
Before the arrows of the Day 
When the great light of creation woke the universe 
from sleep, 

Dispel with your resplendent beams 
All mists and fogs and troubled dreams 

That come and stay unbidden like an uninvited guest, 
For your smile and jocund laugh 
Can scatter like wind-driven chaff 

All sad-eyed, melancholy cares between the East and 
West. 

Oh, be wise, brave heart, and know 
That there can be no radiant bow, 
No arch of hope and promise, except for clouds and 
rain, 
To lift its grand, majestic form 
Like a bridge that spans the storm, 
A highway through the heavens above the troubled 
plain. 

Now may you have the lion's share 
Of all the good and gay and fair 

And one sweet vale of Avilion may all your future be ; 
Days of unspeakable delight 
And more entrancing dreams by night 

Than ever lotos leaves or poppies gave their dearest 
devotee. 

May olive twigs and myrtle leaves 
Bedeck your brow like fillet wreaths 

And the orange, oak and holly and the lily and the bay 
Adorn your breast and noble head 
While round about you waft and spread 

All the redolence and glory of the gorgeous bloom of 
May! 

117 



) 



